Colts cornerback injuries + Fever look forward to playoffs! Joel Erickson and Debbie Antonelli join!

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Again, it is multi layered week. What do I mean
by multi layered week? What I mean by multi layered
week is very simply, when you get up in the morning,
you have to wear more layers of clothing than you
do by the time the midday rolls around. By the
time you're listening to this show, you probably went ahead
and shed yourself with your sweatshirt or your windbreaker, whatever,

(00:21):
your hoodie, your pullover, whatever you normally wear when it's
like forty eight degrees in the morning, if you are
one of the remaining six percent of people that actually
go into an office in the daytime as opposed to
working from home, and you get in your car, it's
a little chilly, and then you have to shed clothing
over the course of the day because it gets warm
out and then before you know it, like it is

(00:43):
going to be this afternoon, it's like eighty two degrees.
But multi layers also multi layered. The subjects we could
talk about today the Indiana Fever. Now their season is
complete and the regular season, they are onto the postseason.
They finished in very strong fashion last night in defeating Minnesota,

(01:05):
a team that is you know, obviously also not at
full strength, but anytime you beat somebody that had the
season Minnesota, had you consider a big win, you obviously
would rather have that than not going into the postseason.
So significant for Indiana to go in with the win
last night. Multi layered as well. And they already have

(01:27):
gone through layer one and are now on to perhaps
layer two. And I'm talking about the Colts in and
I'm not going to bring up I'm not going to
do it, just like no new taxes, not gonna do it,
not gonna do it. I'm not going to mention one

(01:51):
of my five three to five best analogies ever.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
I'm not gonna do it.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
I got in the car this morning and I'm looking
around and I'm like, you know, I knew it was
chilly out and so a multi layered, but I only
brought one layer of sunglasses and I can't find where
they are. But thank goodness, I have another pair that's
right here in the glove compartment. Because when it comes
to my sunglass collection, it's a multi layered collection because

(02:23):
you never know when you're going to need another pair,
darn it. I use the analogy sunglasses and phone chargers,
the two things on an NFL roster that you can
never have too many of and that is defensive backs
and offensive line. And what we know is this the
Colts and Joeli Erickson's going to join us in just
under ten minutes from now. But we have a little

(02:46):
more clarity on the Colts situation at defensive backfield going
into game number two against the Denver Broncos. And what
we know is that Jalen Jones has a hamstring injury.
And Shane Steiken said he will miss quote and let
me get the exact quote from Nathaniel don't call me
aticas Fnce who is out at the Colts complex and

(03:09):
is sitting there and just sent this to us, but
the exact quote, he will be out for a while
Jalen Jones. Now, Jalen Jones had a hamstring injury at
the beginning of camp, if you recall and when that
took place, and you know obviously Juju Brns, who is
no longer with the roster, but that immediately put Chris

(03:29):
Ballard in a situation where he had to go a
couple of more layers in terms of his cornerbacks. And
the one thing that in my opinion in covering the
NFL for years, the one thing that I do think
is kind of advantage Indiana or Indian haplis here like

(03:52):
advantage the way the Colts have done this or for
any team is if there is a position where you
can most plug and play, I think it's corners. You know,
you get offensive linemen that go down and you try
to go out and get somebody's offensive lineman off the
practice squad elsewhere, or trade a sixth round pick for

(04:14):
a guy that is a Swiss army knife from Arizona
or Atlanta and plug them in. There is challenge I
think on the offensive line because of continuity, and you've
got to be able to know and understand what everybody
else around you is doing and when somebody pulls, what
movement they go to, and what gaps that are opened
up where you've got to look. I mean, there's a

(04:35):
lot that goes into that. The same can be said
if you are a receiver and yes, we've seen you know,
Dontrell inman like come off the beach in week five
and go in and have games. But you've got to
then water down your offense and you don't get overly
involved in terms of you know, different checkdowns and alternate

(04:57):
plays to primary play and what else, because the you
are having to learn the playbook, the offense, the routes
and etc. Those things come into play in the cornerback position.
I do think that it's one that guys are so
used to themselves just kind of being on an island,

(05:17):
that you are less reliant on kind of a zone
type read and you can just go in and even
though the helmets change and the uniforms change, I don't
know that you are as immediately reactionary to your teammates
as other positions. And the reason I bring all of
that up is because if you look now at the

(05:39):
Colts situation in their defensive backfield, you have Kenny Moore,
who's primarily your nickel, right. You have Jalen Jones now
who is going to be quote out for a while.
Who else do you have? You have Shaverius Ward, who
is a good player and has learned this system, but

(06:00):
he's in the concussion protocol. So now all of a sudden,
you've played one game, you've played four quarters, and you're
already looking for where that pair of sunglasses that fell
underneath the seat went. Now, Xavier Howard, experienced player, good player,
you know, Blackman one would assume experienced player and good player.

Speaker 2 (06:24):
But we don't know.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
I mean, you're talking about a late addition here, and
Jonathan Edwards, an undrafted free agent who he had on
the show and I thought was outstanding last week in
terms of having him on the show. But what I'm
getting at is you have now and you have to
lean upon potentially two to three guys that weren't even
on your roster when you arrived in Grand Park, and

(06:46):
the yin and the yang of it would be this
the yang, whichever one you want to consider to be
like the negative, whichever way you want to look at it.
But the upshot would be what I just mentioned. I
don't know that it is a position that has the
same level of continuity urgency as others. But then the
other side of it is, while it is a position

(07:08):
that you're happy you bought yourself some depth, you're already
starting to burn through that. And the guys that were
supposed to be your primary guys, you've got to wait
on now a little bit to find it because Ward
as well. I mean, what if Ward can't go, then
you are going with a room. Thank goodness, you made
those moves and got those guys. But in terms of
this defense or different looks, and I don't know again

(07:30):
how much that's not probably as pertinent as linebacker, the lingo,
the jargon or defensive line when you're talking about blitzes
and stunts and that kind of thing. But still you'd
rather have familiarity than not. But Jalen Jones, that is
the big story heading into now game number two against
the Denver Broncos. Good afternoon to you. My name is
Jake Query, Eddie Garrison. We think still works here. I

(07:53):
work here right here. What are you talking about? Well,
I never know because I come in. And Eddie Garrison,
who of course last night did the pre and post
game for the Indiana Fever, we can get into that
in just a second. And normally is the president of
the company here running the board and doing things. And
now you've got Caleb's Iverzuver, who is our undrafted free
agent right like like late addition to the roster and

(08:15):
already getting serious reps. And he's over here pushing all
the buttons. And Eddie, you're kind of like Jalen Jones, right,
are you going to be.

Speaker 3 (08:22):
Out for a while? Not yet? Next month. I'll be
next month Okay.

Speaker 4 (08:26):
I'm a Kai Blackman. Jacob came by way of Minnesota
and Minneo that us and now I'm here and now
I'm stepping in and filling in.

Speaker 1 (08:32):
Well, yeah, that's well played, fair enough. And now Blackman,
though there was a trade taken right you were, I
don't know what got sent back. I'm not mistaken you
were a free agent. But nonetheless, welcome a board for Caleb,
who's in here for day number two. Eddie, I did
while you're here, want to get to what you were

(08:53):
doing last night in the Fever win, because as I'd mentioned,
this is the way that you want to go into
the postseason. You look at it and if I told
you at the beginning of the year that they were
going to have a win of significance in a game
that they controlled. They got out to a big lead
right away, Minnesota chipped into that and then they had
a second run where they especially from the outside, and

(09:15):
in transition they were hitting shots.

Speaker 2 (09:17):
You would rather have that than not.

Speaker 1 (09:18):
But at the same time, it is not necessarily the
one hundred percent strength went over the Minnesota links.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
But it was a win. Nonetheless.

Speaker 3 (09:25):
Yeah, it's still a win, Jake, I mean they didn't
have an a Fista Collier, and I mean Indiana didn't
have what five starters, five players like, so it's like,
I mean, even though Minnesota was hurt, Indiana was hurt.
They've been hurt for the most of the year. But
they pretty much they wide wire win, second wide wire
win of the season. They go on a ten oh
run to start the game. Notice, Jake, I'm adapting. I
did say ten oh, there not ten ten tiero, You're welcome.

(09:48):
And then yeah, as you mentioned, Minnesota did make a
run the you know, chip chipped it down to four
in the third quarter. Then Kelsey Mitchell puts the team
on her back in the third quarter, scoring majority of
her team leading eighteen points in that period to get
Indiana back ahead by double figures. And never really felt
like Minnesota came out with the proper level of intensity
and focus, because I mean, they've got the ones het

(10:09):
locked up. They can't improve on anything. But I know
during the broadcast, their coach was talking about how frustrated
she was with just how they're playing right now because
they want to have momentum going into the postseason and
now they have to root. If you're an Indiana Fever fan,
you have to root for Minnesota on Thursday to beat
the Golden State Valkyries because Golden State lost last night

(10:32):
to Seattle. So the avenue for Indiana to have the
sixth seed is still available and open. And if I'm
hoping for anything, That's what I'm hoping for, because if
Golden State wins on Thursday, it gets Minnesota, then it
would seem likely that Indiana as a seventh seed is
going to draw Las Vegas, who was undefeated against Atlanta

(10:53):
and Indiana does that want to play Vegas right now?
They've won fourteen consecutive games in Aga, Wilson's playing like
the best player on the face.

Speaker 2 (10:59):
Of the art.

Speaker 1 (10:59):
Vegas has the experience just in terms of when you
think of teams that know how to win when it matters,
doesn't Vegas come to mind?

Speaker 3 (11:07):
Oh yeah, I mean they've won the championships, They've got
a lot of veterans and a lot of players there
as still the top of their game, Top fifteen, Top
twenty the WNBA.

Speaker 2 (11:15):
By the way, which WNBA team would you say you
hear the.

Speaker 3 (11:17):
Least about the Connecticut Sun.

Speaker 1 (11:21):
See, it feels to me like the Connecticut Son wouldn't
be that team because well partially because Stephanie White came
from there, but also because Connecticut and Chicago both it
seemed like every time I turned around, that's who the
Fever were playing. And Chicago's terrible, but the Fever owned
them right.

Speaker 3 (11:37):
Well, I mean it didn't help that they played Chicago
five times this year. So out of your forty four.

Speaker 2 (11:41):
Game, what about the Dallas Wings.

Speaker 3 (11:43):
Well, you hear about Dallas because of page checkers. I
get that you don't hear anything about Connecticut because they
don't have any young and exciting players. At least with Washington,
they had two really really good rookies in Sonya Citron
and Kiki erie Fn.

Speaker 1 (11:57):
That's hitrun. That's a kind of absolute vodka.

Speaker 2 (11:59):
Right have you had that?

Speaker 3 (12:00):
I have not? Okay, you absolute don't like vodka. I
don't really care for vodka.

Speaker 1 (12:05):
This chair seems a little noisy today, but there is plenty.

Speaker 2 (12:08):
To get to today.

Speaker 1 (12:09):
Again, We're gonna try kind of transition because this usually
happens in the NFL season when you get to a Wednesday,
you spend Monday Tuesday kind of rehashing what happened in
game number one or whichever the you know the previous
game was, then you you kind of get into that
transitional period. And then tomorrow we will go to Denver
Brandon Christall, I think, who is he is like the

(12:30):
human wind up toy, right, you pull the string, you
ask him one question and then he goes and goes
and goes in depth and knows the Broncos as well
as anybody, and he'll be able to talk to us
tomorrow about what challenge might be presented for the Colts
in game number two. Yeah, Brandon though little more factual really, yeah, okay,

(12:52):
a little more substance, right, a lot of a lot
of sizz Eddie White. Yes, Brandon is kind of the
Denver Eddie White though, because a lot of too joining
us now in the program, and I'm sure thrilled to
be doing so. He is with the Indianapolis Star, he
is covering the Colts and hears Joel a ericson Joel,
let's get right to the meat of the matter, and
that is the corner situation. What more do we know

(13:15):
other than Jalen Jones out for a while.

Speaker 5 (13:19):
Sarmirius Ward is in the concussion protocol and you know,
all they can really say on that is, we'll see,
But I would say if you go back and look
at the recent history of Colts in the concussion protocol,
it's it's much more likely that he misses this game
against Denver than not. You can't predict these things, but
usually they give that player a week before they come back.

Speaker 1 (13:40):
So with that, and I was just discussing this Joel,
and I don't know, you can add to this or
you can discuss whether or not Shane Steichen has talked
about this. To me, the corner position is the one
area where it's good. And I give Chris Ballock credit
because they've built themselves some depth there, but if there
is one area that you've got to plug guys in

(14:04):
and just kind of air drop them in, like like say,
you know, you're talking about players, as we just mentioned
at the corner that have not been with this franchise
a long time and did not go through a lot
of camp in some cases. Do you agree with the
statement that that is the one area where you can
perhaps most mask newcomers without having to have the solidarity

(14:25):
of unit like you would have an offensive line or
defensive line.

Speaker 5 (14:29):
Yeah, I think so. I think, especially especially the way
an Arumo plays defense maybe more than anybody else because
you can you can reduce their responsibility of one specific matchup.
Like Makai Blackman played last week. I think it was
was pretty significant. He played twenty two snaps defensively, and
Anna Rumo said, he's essentially the guy that they match

(14:51):
up with speed guys. They feel like he's the guy
who can who can take away some of that or
at least, if not tac take away at least run
with you know, guys like Yreek Hill, those fast guys.
So like you look at this Broncos team coming up,
Courtland Sutton is kind of a bigger bodied receiver that
that feels like as Xavier Howard matchups to me black Man,
if he has to start, that's that's that's more of

(15:12):
the other guys. That's Franklin, that's Mims, and and then
you know, if you need somebody else, it'd be our
guy Jonathan Edwards who we saw in preseason.

Speaker 1 (15:21):
Yeah, Jonathan Edwards is We had him on the show
last week and great, I mean, totally fun interview. But
at the same time, you know, as an undrafted free agent,
are they ready to go that route? I mean, if
they had to put him in there, Joel, do they
feel that he is ready right now?

Speaker 5 (15:39):
I I think that, you know, they would have to.
They're gonna have to help him. They're gonna have to
help him if he has to go in there. I
don't think he's gonna play a lost night, especially against
you know, when you're going into a matchup against Sean Payton,
who hunts matchups as well as anybody. But I also
think that they probably feel better with Edwards as Don

(16:00):
Jefterd free agent, having spent you know, three weeks or
four weeks of training camp playing essentially a starter role
and against you know, the Michael Pittmans and Alex Pearce's
of the world versus, you know, playing mostly.

Speaker 3 (16:12):
With the twos.

Speaker 1 (16:13):
Were there any other injuries that popped up or any
other situations Shane Steichen has discussed where we may see
a surprising face or somebody that gets slotted in maybe
even gets a look that we did not anticipate.

Speaker 5 (16:30):
So so far, it sounds like they came out the
rest of it came out healthy. We'll find out though,
when we get to practice, because Wednesday is usually the
day for us to kind of find out about guys.
Who are maybe dealing with something that won't keep them
out but could be could be an issue, you know,
like he's he hasn't really said anything about Jonathan Taylor
being hurt. He keeps saying he's fine without saying what

(16:51):
it was. But they did keep him on the bench
for you know, a quarter and a half there in
the second half.

Speaker 1 (16:57):
And Joel, you kind of read my mind there because
and typically if there's supernatural powers between two people, only
one of the two people gets them. And we know
that I have the supernatural power of being a a
beer fairy, so I don't know that you have the
supernatural powers of having read my mind. Rather, it was

(17:17):
just such an obvious storyline. And I'm talking about that
Johnathan Taylor situation because you know, certainly if that was
a twenty eight, twenty seven game, maybe he's on the field, right.
I mean, they didn't need him in that situation. But
do we not have kind of a PTSD with Jonathan Taylor?
Of these things lingering and then we find out that
there is more there? And that's why to me, that's

(17:39):
why I am skeptical about Taylor's health.

Speaker 2 (17:43):
Well, I want to I don't love that I don't
know what it is.

Speaker 5 (17:48):
I don't I don't love that. I don't know what
was bothering him.

Speaker 1 (17:53):
Well, do we know that something was bothering him?

Speaker 5 (17:57):
It feels like it, but I don't know that we
know that for sure. As all you know, Shane has
mostly just said he's good. So I'm kind of waiting
on the injury for it to see if it says something.
You know, if it says ankle that all of a sudden,
my concern level will get a lot higher.

Speaker 1 (18:11):
Here's the thing. I don't disagree, but I like there's
something intriguing about watching Giddon's run and then obviously what
you're doing is you're ready to unleash the beast and
you less suspently the fourth when that number that's called.
But but I do think that Giddons does give them. Yes,
it's a different style of run, but I think that
they can still kind of do some of the things

(18:31):
they want to do with Gidden's back.

Speaker 2 (18:33):
There.

Speaker 1 (18:33):
Am I way too naive and bullish on a rookie?

Speaker 2 (18:36):
No?

Speaker 5 (18:36):
I think I thought the lesson of maybe not playing
Taylor was that in that was was that, you know,
maybe maybe you couldn't give Jonathan Taylor a break on
a couple carries earlier in the game. I know, it's
it seems like it's been a long time since anyone
wanted to do that, usually when Taylor, even when Zach
Moss was here. If you go back and look when

(18:58):
Taylor was healthy, Taylor got almost all of the carries.
And I get it. It's Jonathan Taylor. You want him
on the field as much as possible, but also I
want him on the field as much as possible. Maybe
give him a rest every once in a while. It
looks like the rookie can handle some of that stuff.
You know, it doesn't that be a lot, but you know,
I think he had fifteen carries in the first half
on Sunday, we four of those go to DJ Giddens

(19:20):
and then maybe Jonathan Taylor feels a little bit better
heading in the second half.

Speaker 1 (19:23):
Do you believe that Shane Stiken called that game the
same way with Daniel Jones that he would have with
Anthony Richardson.

Speaker 2 (19:31):
Nope? In what way was it different?

Speaker 5 (19:35):
I think it's probably a more complex game plan. I
would guess that the protection, especially against a team that
blitzes as much as Miami did, I would guess they
probably felt like they could do it more from a
protection standpoint. We saw a couple of plays that where
Jones changed the protection, they were very good against the blitz.

(19:55):
I think it expands what they can do, and people
usually think of that in turn terms of sort of
concrete things that are easy to see, like you know,
they they well, no, they couldn't expand it because they
didn't run the ball as much with the quarter recoisition.

Speaker 3 (20:09):
That's not what I'm talking about.

Speaker 5 (20:10):
I'm talking about options for plays that to us look
like just a regular old pass play, but it's actually
something that targets something that Miami does and it's harder
for you know, us to see because Richard's or because
Richardson maybe doesn't handle the same expanded playbook that Jones does.

Speaker 1 (20:30):
Joe, how many of these Dog and Pony Show interviews
do you think you and I've done over the last
three years, two years, three years? What would you guess
twenty twenty five?

Speaker 5 (20:39):
Yeah, probably, maybe more than that, yeah, probably.

Speaker 1 (20:42):
And what percentage of the time when you get done
and I know you got to get going here in
a second to get in the locker room, but what percentage,
especially in this situation where you hang the phone up
and then you're immediately air dropped in with all of
your media brethren, right, and guys that were way ahead
of me in academic class rank. What percent of the
time when that happens, do you say you're not going
to believe what Querry just asked me? And then you

(21:02):
guys commserate over the dumb question that I asked.

Speaker 5 (21:07):
Ire on the one hand, On the one hand, yes,
we do talk sometimes with what I can talk about.
But if you make it sound like it's a negative,
I think of it as a.

Speaker 3 (21:15):
Positive because it makes you sound smarter that Sometimes I'm.

Speaker 5 (21:19):
No, sometimes I'm like, I'm like, I got to talk
about bourbon for fifteen second for two questions. I enjoyed that.

Speaker 1 (21:25):
Well, here is why I'm going to ask a question
that I'm going to give you the green light to
then tell me if it's just an incredibly dumb, ill timed,
stupid question and et cetera. You ready, Okay, how is
Anthony Richardson doing? And I mean that sincerely, I truly
mean that with In other words, how do you think

(21:46):
it's one thing to be told that the other guy
is the starter? It's another to then have to sit
back and watch the team play well under that guy,
and here for a week about how wonderful it was
to have competency instead at the quarterback position. And you
are a young guy that allegedly, and I'm using that
in air quotes, the team still believes in But how

(22:07):
do you think he's doing.

Speaker 5 (22:09):
Yeah, that's a that's a good question. I don't I
don't know that I have any insight on it. I
think your instincts makes sense to me. I think if
I was in his position, it would be a little
bit tough. You see stuff from like, uh, I was
just reading a story about like fired coaches or whatever,
and that it's hard for them to turn on the

(22:30):
game of the team that they were coaching before they
were fired. Uh. And and it's probably I mean, it's
got to be a little bit true if you were
the quarterback and then somebody else is a quarterback, right yeah,
except that you have to be there and you have
to stand there on.

Speaker 2 (22:44):
The sideline, right all.

Speaker 1 (22:46):
I mean, you know, I I know, you got to
be the team guy and you got to be the
team player. But at the same time that there's that's
why the reason I say it, Joel Is, because that's
why it feels to me like when you take a
quarterback from the starter back to the like we're gonna
put him on the sidelines and let him learn that's

(23:08):
a real difficult thing to come back from.

Speaker 5 (23:11):
Yeah, yeah, I agree with that. I agree with that,
And especially if, especially if you see, you know, success
from the person that replaced you.

Speaker 2 (23:21):
That's what I mean.

Speaker 5 (23:22):
A lot of times, a lot of times, a lot
of times you have these guys like what you know,
they Bryce Young got benched and then the Caroline Panthers
are still a mess. You know, That's that's different than
watching them go out and score on all seven possessions.

Speaker 1 (23:36):
Yeah, and again it's interesting that you say that you
thought that Shane Steiken might have called the game even
more complex, because there's part of me that wondered if
they didn't make it even more simplistic to keep within
what they believe to be the ceiling for Jones. And
just as I keep talking about having hit the layups
and Tyler Warren being a big piece of that, but

(23:56):
maybe maybe in fact they were able to spread it around,
Does that make sense? I mean, their offense might have
been even more versatile so to speak.

Speaker 5 (24:03):
Yeah, I think how they I think it's how they
get to the layups. It's how they you know, all
of the different ways we saw the US Tyler Warren,
the all of the like options. Essentially, you get to
the line and you have options to change the play
and maybe that play just leads to a five yard game,
but it's a play that you wouldn't have had if

(24:23):
you stuck in that. I think that's where it expands.
It is they've got more options to get to those
layups than they would have had before.

Speaker 1 (24:31):
Joel, here's the bottom line. Before you go back in,
I need to let you know this. It is not
until January. No, I take that back December. Second week
in December when I do my annual weekend trip to Milwaukee,
we do our pre Christmas trip to Milwaukee.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
Shannon and I.

Speaker 1 (24:47):
That means that when the beer faery made his delivery
to you, you've got to ration things off and pace yourself.

Speaker 2 (24:53):
I wondered. I wondered, and.

Speaker 5 (24:58):
I wondered, and I may have gone out, and you
know the next time I was at the grocery store,
I was like, you know what I need. I need
to get myself a three Floyd's Variety pack, so I.

Speaker 2 (25:06):
Can face out these.

Speaker 5 (25:08):
I can space out this Wisconsin stuff for appropriate times.

Speaker 1 (25:11):
That's right, or as they do in Wisconsin. You know,
I gotta take care of that until next Wednesday.

Speaker 5 (25:19):
That's pretty good, accent, that's pretty good.

Speaker 1 (25:21):
I mean, listen, I don't know if you know this
or not, but I'm a man of many talents.

Speaker 2 (25:26):
We haven't found.

Speaker 1 (25:27):
Necessarily what most of those are, but allegedly I am right.
All right, Joel, Well, you get back to it. I
appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (25:33):
What's that?

Speaker 5 (25:34):
I thought that was a pretty good one.

Speaker 4 (25:35):
That's pretty good.

Speaker 2 (25:36):
Wisconsin. Thanks.

Speaker 1 (25:37):
You know, I'm gonna do what I can. Hey, daughter,
I do what I can, all right. Appreciate the time, Joel.
As always, you bet we'll see. I've mentioned before my
roommate in college was from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan,
and that's basically Wisconsin. And I'll never forget when his
cousin came to visit us and was in the shower

(25:58):
and he's yelling, screaming, blood murdered from the shower. I
thought like he slipped and fell or something. I wasn't
going to go in the shower. I mean that was
a little uncomfortable, but the door was unlocked, so he
he he kind of popped his head through the door
and he's covered and whatever else, and he says, I
neede a tall like a tool.

Speaker 3 (26:15):
I neede a toll now.

Speaker 1 (26:17):
And I thought, oh my gosh, the you know, and
our place was a complete dump obviously, and I thought,
I don't know if he needs a wrench or if
he needs like a hammer, or he needs a welding pipe.
But we're and now I'm in the you know, I'm
imagining water going everywhere and the apartment's flooded. And I said, well,
what what tool.

Speaker 2 (26:34):
Do you need?

Speaker 1 (26:35):
Just I just made any doll and I was kind
of freaking out. And then he opens the door and
he's standing there and he's buck naked, and he's covered
in water dripping off of him in some SuDS and says,
I just got a thall off before I get dressed.
Oh a towel. Okay, so yes, And that was Upper Peninsula,
but that's basically like Wisconsin.

Speaker 3 (26:56):
Did you say buck naked?

Speaker 2 (26:58):
I think I said butt naked. You could go both.

Speaker 3 (27:02):
I heard buck.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
Maybe I said buck naked.

Speaker 1 (27:05):
They kind of roll one into the next butt naked,
buck naked, right, George, George Costanz's adult film star name
was going to be buck naked, but I think I
went with butt naked.

Speaker 3 (27:15):
You should have gone with buck naked.

Speaker 1 (27:18):
See now you get or if you were from there
and you know the buck naked, you know what I mean?
You got to get the Wisconsin accent. He mentioned, by
the way, what it would be like to be a
quarterback in watch your former team play and play well
and win games. What about if you're a coach and
your former team you get into a spat with, and

(27:38):
how that might actually hurt you in your current position.
I think we actually are witnessing that right now, and
we're witnessing it from a guy that people around here
are gonna want to see fail anyway. And I'll tell
you who that is and we'll get back into the
Colts conversation getting set for the Denver Broncos do it
all on the other side here on layer number two,

(28:00):
the multi layered Wednesday, it's quiring company on the fan.
I've made this editorial comment before, and it seems to
be that I'm alone on an island when I say it.
I know that people say that They're like this great
rock band of the seventies, and I totally respect and
appreciate their place within music culture. And we all have
our own individual taste.

Speaker 2 (28:18):
But I think the Eagles are so.

Speaker 3 (28:22):
Sleepy.

Speaker 1 (28:25):
I hear that song, and I know that it's just
a matter of place and time of where you were
when songs are big. But when I hear that song,
I feel like I'm in the back of my mom's
car driving around listening to WIBC AM music radio, like
it's that's yacht rock to me. I know people would
disagree with me, but like, am I on the way

(28:47):
to the dentist? Are we a dentist's office? When that
song comes on, I just think the Eagles are so sleepy?

Speaker 4 (28:54):
Strike one for me? Behind the board here? Not a
good star?

Speaker 2 (28:58):
Are you an Eagles fan?

Speaker 4 (28:59):
I am?

Speaker 2 (29:00):
My dad is.

Speaker 4 (29:01):
And you know, New Kid in Town is the name
of the song. I was trying to do a little
play on myself, that's fair, but the.

Speaker 1 (29:07):
Song is just sleepy, man. I listen there, Caleb. I
don't think you're wrong though, because I'm in the minority
in my opinion. It's what I'm getting at. I mean,
I know that, but Nonetheless, there is an interesting thing
taking place right now. And maybe it's not necessarily a
big relevance within local college football or the NFL, but

(29:30):
I do think that it is of relevance to an
extent of the way in which sports are headed. And
to an extent I think it speaks to what I
just spoke to, and that is your perceptions in your
the way that you take in things and the way

(29:51):
that you perceive them is largely based upon where you
are in your life or where you were when things
were last relevant. And what I'm getting at is this
this feud which is largely irrelevant in Indiana, I realize,

(30:12):
but the Bill Belichick feud with North Carolina and the
New England Patriots is somewhat topical here because Belichick, of course,
if you were to and yes, I realized, when you
won as many Super Bowls as he did and when
you had essentially an NFL dynasty, the Cults are not
alone and considering themselves the key rival to the Belichick Patriots.

(30:34):
I mean, certainly there are those that would say, no,
the Giants were a bigger rival for him, or the
you know, there's any number of organizations or franchises You
can mention the Jets, the Dolphins, those that are you know,
the Bills, those in the division, et cetera. But he
is a polarizing figure here in Indianapolis and significant within

(30:55):
the football culture of this town. And for those that
are unaware, Bill Belichick is now the head coach obviously
at the University of North Carolina, and they're already was
whisper as to how in touch with today's college game
even somebody who is a football savant like he is

(31:15):
could be. And yet you look at it and you say, yeah,
but he is an elite level coach that knows and
understands the game, and that translates no matter whether you're talking.
You know, like look at ted Lasso. Ted Lasso was
a college football coach that then took the principles of
coaching and ego massaging and translated that into British soccer

(31:38):
and then like could take that down into now allegedly
or apparently coaching youth soccer. Sometimes the principles of coaching
translate from whatever series, whatever level, whatever sport you're talking about,
and North Carolina was banking on that, obviously. But he
goes there and it looks like a little and it

(32:00):
looks like just the kind of thing that makes Belichick Belichick,
and why like we love to hate him, and the
fact that he comes out and he gets petty and
he says, I'm not going to let the New England
Patriots scouts and representatives of the New England Patriots in
my facility here in Chapel Hill. Why you ask, because

(32:20):
I don't think i'd be welcome back at theirs. Okay, fine,
and you look at that and you go, yeah, great, Jake,
why are you mentioning this on Indianapolis Radio? You mentioned
today that this is a multi layered show. I didn't
think that one of the layers was going to be
something that is a jacket that I haven't even put
on before. I don't care about North Carolina football. I
certainly don't care about the Patriots. Totally get it. But

(32:44):
what it symbolizes is, look at today's college football culture,
look at today's college football climate, college athletics in general.
Today's college athlete is go going to and selecting schools
in the vast majority of circumstances for one of two reasons.

(33:07):
They are trying to get paid or they're trying to
get to the league, whether that be the NBA or
the NFL, whatever it may be, they are trying to
turn professional. A track athlete at Oregon is going to
Oregon because they have the Nike Track Complex there. They
have the history of track and cross country there with

(33:27):
Prefontaine and everything else, and that is going to give
them the best chance to become a professional Nike runner.
That is then going and running in Codder and you know,
around the world in different elite level running championships and
Nikes got them on the payroll. Their best introduction to
that is to go to Oregon. For example, if you

(33:49):
are a top flight player in high school football right
now and you are looking at where you want to go.
The University of North Carolina hired Belichick not just because
they think this guy has football x's and o's like
a savant, but because they would assume that he has

(34:12):
the connection to get players to the NFL, and that's
going to increase their recruiting net. That's going to make
players say, I want to go to North Carolina because
he has all kinds of connections in the NFL and
I want to get to the league. I want to
get to the league. Do you think that they're worried
about North Carolina as like social you know, social work program,

(34:34):
or history academics, or their mathematic program. Maybe in some cases,
but for the most part, most of the players that
are going in the college level are going because they
have eyes on the NFL and they're going to the
place that's going to springboard them. And North Carolina just
assumed that Belichick would be able to do that and

(34:54):
get those players and funnel that pipeline. And now, if
you are a player, you're looking at it and you
are saying, wait a minute.

Speaker 2 (35:04):
Already.

Speaker 1 (35:04):
The only thing I know is that he is selecting
and choosing which NFL players are even going to have
access to me or not players which NFL scouts. Why
would I go somewhere If I'm a top level quarterback
that's going to be a freshman at North Carolina, I
may have zero interest in the New England Patriots per se,

(35:25):
but I want to make sure that I'm getting an
opportunity to show myself to scouts of every franchise in
the NFL. Why am I going to want to go
play for a coach that is limiting which scouts can
and can't come around and watch me practice, I want
my resume on the LinkedIn that's getting the most clicks.

(35:46):
And I think a little bit of that. Look at
it at Indiana with Mike Woodson. I think the thought
process was with Indiana, for example, We're going to get
Mike Woodson in here, and Mike Woodson's going to come
in and he is going to get a bunch of
players because he coached in the NBA, and therefore players
are going to want to come play for him because

(36:08):
he's got all these ties to the NBA. And then
what you found out was when Mike Woodson got there
that you know, allegedly or depending on who you believe,
that he was in terms of a multi layer Wednesday,
some of the layers of his skin were a little thin,
and that started to lead to to an extent, I'm

(36:30):
not going to say that he was keeping out NBA franchises,
but I don't know how much. In his recruiting process,
for example, he was in touch with what the demands,
what the requirements, what the needs were for young players
and relationships with their coaches and everything else. And so
Indiana found out that when they opted for Mike Woodson

(36:53):
and got rid of Archie Miller, who Yeah, I mean
that was an experiment. Also, that's like this weird era
that we almost forget about. But the grass wasn't always
so greener. And so then they went and they're like,
we've got to go back and get a coach that
has a track record not just of being able to
massage those relationships but build talent of players once they're here.
And it remains to be seen whether Deviz is going
to be that guy or not. But I think I

(37:16):
just think that what you are seeing right there in
the form of Bill Belichick is that even with the
most brilliant of football minds, sometimes that can get clouded
by being in a world and living in a world
where time passes you by, and in terms of what
kids are going to want from him in his program,

(37:38):
his digging his heels in the sand with a petty
vendetta against an NFL franchise shows a lack of touch
of what young people want. And in today's world of
college athletics, every coach has to navigate that. And it
is true that it is the athletes that are stirring
the drink now, not the coaches, and the power belong

(38:00):
and the athletes because they're the one with the name,
they're the one with the image, They're the one with
the likeness, and that's what the schools now have to feed.

Speaker 2 (38:08):
Be that fair or not.

Speaker 1 (38:09):
There's another story in sports that I think I have
an unpopular opinion and I need speaking of that the
advice of the younger audience, mainly the two that are
sitting right here with me, but also you folks as well.
I'm going to tell you something that I saw and
I thought to myself, Am I the only that saw
this this way? And I don't even wear glasses but
the ones that I'm wearing apparently are clouded. I'll explain next.

(38:33):
I'm back in the back of my mom's car. Are
we going to play Somebody's Knocking at the Door? Next
by Paul McCartney and Wings.

Speaker 4 (38:38):
I'll do better in the next hour. I'm just trying
to think of what I can play, and this is
all that comes to mind.

Speaker 3 (38:43):
I'm sorry, wow, okay, uh okay.

Speaker 1 (38:47):
Here is I have a couple of ja Querrey's sports rules,
which I've laid out before. Okay, a couple of rules
in life to live by, and one of them comes
into play right now, and then I think that I'm
literally I'm like, I think I'm I think I'm the
old guy here or not not even the old I'm
not even gonna say, oh guy, I'm It seems an

(39:07):
unpopular opinion what I'm about to say. But I have
a couple of rules. Rule number one to live by
in life. And you guys can jot this down if
you'd like. If you're driving in the car, is you know,
certainly be careful, just maybe recorded on your phone. But
these are important rules to live by. Number one, never
be the oldest person in the bar's That's probably the

(39:29):
number one rule to live by. Just never be the
oldest person in the bar period. If you live by
that rule, there are a lot of things that just
fall off of that and it makes perfect sense and
you're avoiding yourself a lot of trouble. Don't be the
oldest person in the bar. Number two, as it relates
to sports, if you go to a Major League baseball game,

(39:52):
or for that matter, a professional baseball game, so you
know the indianapos Indians count here. Obviously, if you go
to a baseball game, you were not to wear a
glove if you're over the age of twelve, un less
and less you are accompanying a child under the age
of twelve, at which point you are expected to wear

(40:14):
a glove along with the kid, because then that's fun.

Speaker 3 (40:18):
Eddie, you disagree, I still disagree.

Speaker 2 (40:21):
You would amend that.

Speaker 3 (40:22):
How the adult still no glove child? Yes, under the
age of twelve. If you're an adult taking your kid, No,
you don't need to wear your glove.

Speaker 6 (40:30):
No.

Speaker 2 (40:30):
No, So.

Speaker 1 (40:39):
Okay, you're saying no glove whatsoever, right, and I would
say over the age of fifteen.

Speaker 2 (40:46):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (40:47):
But either way, here's the other rule. This is an
important one. Okay, after the age of twelve. Well, no,
that's after the age of I'll say, Actually, I'll go adult,
so twenty five.

Speaker 2 (41:02):
I'll say twenty five.

Speaker 1 (41:03):
After the age of twenty five, unless you are a company,
unless you are there with a young person. If you
catch a foul ball, that foul ball gets designated to
a pre selected kid in the area that doesn't know
that he's been selected. No, but when you go to
the game, if you see a young kid with a
glove sitting near you, then it is your responsibility if

(41:26):
you catch a foul ball to soak in the glory
of it for a second and then hand it to
the kid.

Speaker 3 (41:30):
Another caveat if you like myself, if you've never caught
a foul ball at a game, then no, I've.

Speaker 1 (41:35):
Never been near a foul ball, but I still would
do that.

Speaker 3 (41:37):
You're also at a different stage in your life than
I am. I would love to keep it as a.

Speaker 1 (41:40):
Your close to twenty five rules so you get some.

Speaker 3 (41:43):
Now is this on top of your mind because of
what happened earlier this week?

Speaker 1 (41:47):
So let me explain what happened. I believe it was
actually technically in Miami.

Speaker 2 (41:50):
Was it not?

Speaker 1 (41:51):
Or was it against my Oh? But the viral video
is this, and I'm just going to put it in
simplistic form. Player hits a home run. Home run lands
near a woman who I believe had a child with her.
Man from a couple of rows, over comes running over
he also has a kid, gets the ball and then

(42:11):
goes and gives it to his son. Woman then goes
in protest, confronts said man, and essentially shames him into
giving the ball back to her in a very like
temperamental fashion, very Karen like understood. Karen's my mom's name, though,
So I gotta be careful. But here is where I

(42:33):
think I'm in the unpopular opinion. Ball was on the ground,
by the way, Okay, it sounds like she caught it.
Here's my unpopular opinion.

Speaker 2 (42:43):
She's in the right.

Speaker 1 (42:45):
He basically comes down and takes the ball away from
her right. He's I mean, Jake, the ball's on the ground,
nobody's claimed it. She didn't catch it, she has no kids.
She's reaching down. I think she did have a kid
near her, did she not? No, it was just it
just looks like it's her and her husband. Okay, in
that case, I thought she said she was getting it
for her kid. But she's reaching down for the ball

(43:06):
when he comes in and basically it is very clearly
in her area, in her operating area. I think he
kind of looks like.

Speaker 3 (43:17):
My favorite part, Jake, is when she goes over to
confront the guy. He's like, what, oh, he looks like
he just saw a ghost iever. He absolutely looks like
he just saw balls on the ground. It's free three game,
and it's not like he was doing it for himself.
He was doing it for his son. He was going
to get the ball for his son.

Speaker 2 (43:40):
I get it.

Speaker 1 (43:41):
I totally get it, because the kid is involved. That
changes the dynamic a little bit. But he he vacates
his area. He's in Illinois and he comes over into
the middle of Indiana to take the.

Speaker 3 (43:54):
Ball, chake the balls on the ground. It's free games.
She hadn't claimed it her husband, and she was reaching
down for it though it's still free game. Jake, Okay, it's.

Speaker 1 (44:04):
I would think amongst adults, it would be an understood
that because it's directly in front of her, she should
be given the opportunity to reach down and pick it up.

Speaker 3 (44:10):
It's not like you and your siblings when you're you know,
you're approaching the car and someone Neil shotgun.

Speaker 1 (44:16):
Why do you think he was so startled when he
went back over and she confronted him. I think part
of it is because he's like, look how far away
she had to come to confront me, which is the
same distance he had to go to get the ball.

Speaker 3 (44:26):
I think she was so startled because it's like, what
in the world you're approaching me? Like, what are you doing? Okay,
you didn't have the ball. I didn't have the ball.
I walked over there, I grabbed the ball. I gave
it to my son, Jake. It was the guy's son's birthday.
Is she supposed to know that?

Speaker 7 (44:41):
No?

Speaker 1 (44:41):
I mean no, But I mean, if you're the guy
you got to win out of this, you're not being
well he now this guy now stuff. The guy now
apparently has like come out publicly and said, like, hey,
like pump the brakes here. I guess people are like
showing up at her house. And I mean, she's it
is funny, she's become a meme and whatever. But but
when I first saw it, I mean, look, did she
overreact maybe, But when I first saw it, I was like, yeah,

(45:04):
I mean the entire thing is precipitated by the fact
that I believe he came into her neighborhood. I think
he came into her neighborhood and then and took something
off the driveway, and she went and got it back.

Speaker 3 (45:17):
You're out a game, Jake. You have no neighborhood. If
there's an open seat next to you, you can move
wherever you'd like. The ball's on the ground, nobody's claiming it.
It's your ball.

Speaker 1 (45:26):
Now, I will say this, I will say I'm gonna
give a caveat to my own rule that if it
is a if it is a landmark, home run for
a player like a five hundred home run, all bets
are off. I will agree to that. Back into the colts,
by the way, big news from earlier today, we'll let
you hear from Shane Steichen next. By the way, I

(45:47):
always and I always love this one. Jake, you don't
know what you're talking about because you don't have kids. Okay, again,
I mean I get that, But at the same time,
it's my understanding the woman was getting the ball that
laid right before because she wanted to give it to
wait for it her kids. And secondly, my entire like

(46:10):
point about baseball games is based upon it being for kids.

Speaker 3 (46:17):
Right, Like you you.

Speaker 1 (46:20):
Let kids wear a glove to the game. You wear
a glove to the game. If you're with a kid,
when you get to a game and you look around,
you find it. And if you are an adult that
is there without children, you look around for the kid
that you would give the ball to if a foul
ball comes to you.

Speaker 4 (46:38):
Yeah, I think that's just common courtesy, right, I mean,
if you were a kid, make your day, make your month,
of course, I mean, yeah, you're soaking the glory for it.

Speaker 1 (46:45):
Now, I will admit it changes the dynamic a little
bit if it is in fact, like you know, if
you're there and it's Kyle Schwarber's five hundredth career home run,
I mean, I get it. There are elements of that that,
you know, you start getting into monetary value. Shane Steiken
talked earlier today with the Colts about the Colts situation

(47:07):
upcoming with the Miami Dolphins, and I'm going to go
back to what I said off the top of the show,
and that is when you look at game number one,
I'm sorry, getting set for the Denver Broncos and coming
off the Miami Dolphins, if you look at that game
against Miami. And I don't know the answer to this.
I don't and I don't know that we'll know it

(47:29):
in maybe until late October. But it happens every year.
It happens every year in the National Football League where
we have over reaction Monday. All you have to do
is look at for example, our Chicago's Pizza Quarrying Company
Fantasy football league. Myself, I went out immediately yesterday and

(47:54):
picked up two players off free agency because I'm like,
uh oh, big week one for that guy. I gotta
go get it. Uh Oh, This guy didn't perform for me,
I gotta drop him. It's one week, but I'm guilty
of it. And fantasy football, to a great extent, is
responsible for two things in the NFL. Number One, it's responsible,

(48:16):
I think, for widening an already huge fan base because
of the fact that it allowed for people that normally
weren't diehard football fans to get invested and all of
a sudden, now they had a reason to watch games
and whatever else because they wanted to make sure that

(48:36):
they won their league or beat their husband's team, or
their wife's team, or their coworkers team, whatever it might be.
That's thing one that fantasy football has done. Number two
that fantasy football has done is it has allowed, I think,
to an extent, and this is true of fantasy basketball, baseball, whatever.
Fantasy sports in general. Has allowed for us to see

(48:57):
the challenge that teams have because you are you're allowed
so many wide receivers and then wait a minute, I
need to pick up a running back and well, wait
a minute, this running back got hurt.

Speaker 2 (49:10):
And now what am I going to do?

Speaker 1 (49:11):
Because I was my team was doing great, and now
I've got And yes, it's fantasy, it's not reality, there's
nothing about it that's real except for the perspective that
it offers, and it does somewhat offer a real perspective
as to the challenges that go into a team, including overreaction.
So maybe we overreacted about Week one against Miami. Maybe

(49:37):
we overreacted to this defense looks amazing under Lou and Roumo.
Maybe we overreacted to Daniel Jones is going to have
a Sam Darnold Baker Mayfield lease on life situation of
energy pumped into him and now a confidence bolster that

(49:58):
comes with new surroundings, new offense, new technique, et cetera.
Maybe we overreacted to that, or maybe we will look
back in October and say Miami was terrible, that's the
worst team in the league.

Speaker 2 (50:16):
Or it could be.

Speaker 1 (50:19):
That we're overreacting to that narrative and that Miami actually
is a decent team and the Colts made them look bad.
And the pump the brakes is where we are overreacting
because we need to keep it at the same level
of acceleration of build on this. We don't know the

(50:39):
answer to many of those things. What we do know
is this, and you learn this in fantasy sports.

Speaker 2 (50:48):
You learn that.

Speaker 1 (50:51):
Each week you've got to look at your roster and
you're like, oh my gosh, what happened my fantasy team?
Like I was doing great and then I completely space.
My tight end was on a buy and I didn't
get a change made, and so I lost eleven points
and then guess what, my team got beat by nine. Okay,
And so you learn that having to monitor all the time,

(51:12):
all areas of your team are important, and that is,
of course true. That is one of the offerings that
gives us a microcosm, and I mean it's a microcosm
of the realities of the NFL. But each usually Tuesday
and Wednesday, depending on the which availability it is, how

(51:33):
much information they have, how many injuries they have, the
head coach meets with the media and gives updates on
status of players. And for the Colts themselves, you have
I think for the most part, they came out of
Week one in pretty good shape. Now and I'm you know,

(51:55):
Jonathan Taylor, is there something going on there? Well, they
haven't said anything. He did not finish the game, but
he didn't need to, so it is he a little
bit dinged up because he got dinged up on a
play and then didn't return. I don't know that hasn't
been clarified. I personally think that we're going to look
back and say, you know what, we didn't realize this,

(52:18):
but now we can tell you that this was going on. Okay,
and you know he's going to We're going to lighten
the load whatever it might be. But let's get to
the defensive backfield situation. If you look at the defensive backs,
you look at the secondary for the Colts, I think
pretty good unit. Matter of fact, a testament to the

(52:39):
equality of the unit is the fact that Juju Brnce
and I know that that was a health issue, but
Juju Brinz didn't make this roster. And I think Juju
Brnce is a big athletic guy that they would have
loved it, but there just wasn't. They ran out of
time on that and obviously he was claimed, so other
teams do see that he has some potential about him.

(53:00):
But if you look at the secondary for the Colts
as it stands going into the year, okay, and what
you would anticipate given every single week being your fantasy
lineup as it is healthy and everybody good to go
in that situation, your corners are Shaverius Ward, who is

(53:21):
an experienced, upgraded, proven player on one side, of course,
and then xaviing Howard on the other side, with Jalen
Jones being a guy that can spell either way. Well,
now you're in a unique situation. Kenny Moore is your nickel. Okay,

(53:42):
so you're in a unique situation. And then you got
blackman coming in and helping out Kenny Moore. But here
is Chris Ballard earlier when answering the question about the
availability for example of Charvarius Ward who went into the
concussion protocol and then Jalen Jones, who we knew was

(54:03):
nursing a sore hamstring, one injury that had already plagued
him at the beginning of camp. But listen closely, because
he's asked about Shaverius Ward. Is Shane Steichen and he
answers that question, and in terms of information, it's a
buy one, get one.

Speaker 7 (54:19):
He will not he'll be in the protocol and we'll
see the week ghost zones. While yeah, he's going.

Speaker 3 (54:24):
To be out for a while.

Speaker 2 (54:25):
I don't have a timetable on it, but he'll be out.

Speaker 8 (54:27):
For a while.

Speaker 2 (54:27):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (54:28):
That was James Boyd asking that follow up question about
Jalen Jones. So now you look at it ward in
concussion protocol, Let's say he's not able to go Jones
out for a while, not able to go Xavian Howard
you would feel pretty good about. But we'll get to

(54:49):
that because there's something to be said there as well. Okay,
and then you have black Ben that for example, if
Kenny Moore is now all of a sudden gonna have
to play, you know, and fill in at one of
the corner spots, Blackman's got to move up a spot
as well, right, And this becomes kind of that domino
effect of what takes place with having to move guys around.

(55:14):
So let's talk about Blackman and whether or not he
is ready. Then if his number is called and Kenny
Moore gets more reps on primary everyday downs, Blackman then
has to slide into the nickel role or play perhaps
depth at one of the corners. Question is this is
a guy that they basically got at the end of camp,
They made a trade for him at the end of camp,

(55:34):
came from Minnesota. And here is Shane Steichen on whether
he thinks Blackman's ready to go.

Speaker 7 (55:40):
Yeah, No, I thought he did a great job coming in.
He put in the time, put in the work. He
was always in with the dB coaches. Jerome Henderson, he
spent a lot of time with him. I walked past
his office when he signed him. He was in there
all day, every day learning the system. So credit to him,
Credit to Jerome and Chris getting him up to speed
as fast as possible.

Speaker 2 (55:57):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (55:58):
And when he's talking about Chris, by the way, they've
got a couple of defensive back coaches, and Chris Hewett
is another one that works within the secondary. He's the
overall secondary coach. And then Jerome Henderson there that you
heard that works with corners.

Speaker 2 (56:09):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (56:10):
Now, so then the question becomes with this room that
we thought was a room where they had good depth
and now all of a sudden it's a little bit depleted.
Steichen's thoughts on the cornerback room in general good.

Speaker 7 (56:23):
I mean, we got guys in there that we feel
confident in. Whoever's on that field, we've got, you know,
faith in, and they got to be ready to go.
You know, if he's not able to go, we got
to those other guys step up.

Speaker 1 (56:32):
Now I get it, and I believe him when he
says that, because I do think that credit to Chris Ballard.
Chris Ballard has done a good job of building depth
at this position, but it's already being tested. And the
thing to me that is curious is this the guys
that we just mentioned. Jonathan Edwards, undrafted free agent, didn't
know where Westfield, Indiana was three months ago except for

(56:56):
the fact that he played at Indiana State, so he
probably had some friends from Westfield. Okay, Xavien Howard again
not on the roster, not one that you expected at
the end of last year was going to be a
part of this defensive backfield black Men we just talked about,
and Jalen Jones who has been dinged up with injury
and is still out for a while now. My point being,

(57:17):
this is a unit that, while I give them credit
and thank goodness, they've built some depth within it, it
is still faces and names that are relatively unfamiliar overall
with the grand scheme of things. But you have a
defense with a coordinator.

Speaker 2 (57:31):
That is new.

Speaker 1 (57:32):
Lou Anrumo is new to everybody. His defense is new
to everybody, and how you work off of your teammates
within your particular unit.

Speaker 2 (57:45):
Also new.

Speaker 1 (57:47):
To everybody, and corner is one spot that I think
you can most airdrop a guy in and on short
preparation he can play at a pretty high level compared
to say, if you were to put in a right
guard or a tight end or a receiver, just because
I think the language, the lingo, the responsibilities. In terms

(58:10):
of how much you are reliant upon what your other
teammates are doing, you are more on an island as
a corner than probably any other position. But the other
thing that I can appreciate, and I've grown to appreciate
this over time, Shane Steikeen has a unique ability to
answer questions without saying anything. Caleb, I'm gonna give you

(58:33):
the task here. I want you to ask me a
question about anything in life and I'll answer it like
Shane steiken anything going on in the world. Let's not
keep it political but or let's not go political, but
anything in the world going on, sports wise, other teams,
whatever going on. Just ask me a question of something
going on in the world right now, that's topic, and
I'll answer it like Shane Steikeen.

Speaker 4 (58:52):
Uh Hey, coach Shane steike In. Caleb'suverer of one oh
seven five of the fan. What are your thoughts on
the Cowboys missing Michael Parsons. Do you think it's a
good trade, bad trade?

Speaker 2 (59:02):
What do you think? Yeah, good trade, good player.

Speaker 8 (59:04):
You know.

Speaker 2 (59:04):
Obviously those guys, you know, they they know what they
got to do.

Speaker 1 (59:07):
That's guy with energy, I mean, gets in there, mix plays,
you know, and and and and they're gonna know what's
best for their program. I think he's a great player.
I think green Bay got a great player there. But
at the same time, you know, Dallas they got a
lot of depth, and you gotta trust the process. And
I think they trust the process. They know and they've
done their work, They've done their homework, and uh, I
think it works out for both teams. Okay, I asked
me something else that that's not to do with football.

Speaker 8 (59:27):
And.

Speaker 4 (59:29):
Let's see here, Uh what do you Uh can I
still stick with sports.

Speaker 2 (59:35):
And anything in the world. Anything?

Speaker 4 (59:37):
Just go ask question boom go uh chain stike in
what's your favorite uh state capital in the United States?

Speaker 2 (59:43):
Well, good question.

Speaker 1 (59:44):
Lots of them to choose from, you know, and obviously
you know they all got all got highs, all got lows.
I mean, you know, you look at Cheyenne windy like
the wind you know Cheyenne and and the high Plateau
there and then you know Tallahassee, big building. But you know,
we got to look at it. I mean, I've been
a lot of them, not not to all of them.
So we got to look at it. And and we'll
take a look at that. And but I you know,
i'd say Indianapolis. I mean we're here in Indiapolis, like

(01:00:05):
Indianapolis State Capitol, beautiful building right next to our building.

Speaker 2 (01:00:07):
And uh, you know, we look to pack it like
he is the master.

Speaker 1 (01:00:13):
He is the master and answering the coach speak one
on one, but you can you have to navi. So
what I'm saying is with that, you have to then
tiptoe through and navigate and find little things where he's
giving you a little information.

Speaker 2 (01:00:27):
And where we aired. Where I aired.

Speaker 1 (01:00:33):
Was so I'm not going to throw everybody else under
this bus.

Speaker 2 (01:00:35):
Where I aired was the fact that when if you look.

Speaker 1 (01:00:45):
At each time he was asked about the quarterback situation,
he told you everything you needed to know. He didn't
say the names, but he told you everything he needed
to know you needed to know. And when he is
saying right there, for example, he was asked about Ward

(01:01:06):
and he just said he's in the protocol and that's it.
I mean, I get that he probably doesn't know much
more than that at this point. But when he's asked
about Blackman and he starts and I go back to this,
I just think this is such a critically important aspect
of when Shane Steiken says things.

Speaker 8 (01:01:24):
He does.

Speaker 1 (01:01:25):
He gives you the coach speak one oh one, but
there is consistency in sometimes the narrative of what he
is saying. And when he's talking about Blackman there and
when he's talking about the defensive backfield there, what does
he keep going back to preparation, the room, the film room, reps, commitment.

(01:01:51):
He keeps saying those things, and he doesn't say that
about every player, So when there are players that he
doesn't say it about, you can read between the line.
And I know that he was very high on the
physical attributes of Anthony Richardson, and I know that he
was vociferous through the draft process apparently or allegedly within

(01:02:15):
the room of the intrigue of Anthony Richardson.

Speaker 2 (01:02:20):
And I know that he.

Speaker 1 (01:02:23):
Managed to kind of reinvent Jalen Hurts.

Speaker 2 (01:02:30):
And I know that he.

Speaker 1 (01:02:32):
Actually, I think got a pretty decent contract for Gardner Minshew.
And I think now Shane Steiken is looking at and
somebody sent me this yesterday, Ron sent me this. I
think it was and it's a brilliant point. By going
with Daniel Jones, Shane Steiken is gambling, not on Daniel

(01:02:54):
Jones and not against Anthony Richardson, but Shane Styken is
game mbling on himself because he knows the time is
ticking for him, and he knows. He looks at it
and he says, I've got to go with the quarterback
here that I feel I have the best opportunity to
awaken and to jumpstart and to get going. And in

(01:03:18):
doing that, I've got to go with the quarterback that
I'm the most comfortable with. And what defines comfort for
Shane Steichen in the room, working with coaches, commitment, see
him in the hallways, and what does he keep telling us?

(01:03:40):
And what did he keep telling us about Anthony Richardson?
He kept saying to us, not not even necessarily as
an indictment on Richardson, but in the praise elsewhere, Well,
the thing about Jones or the thing about this quarterback competition,
I want somebody that it's part of the entire operation.
I want somebody that sees all of this in terms

(01:04:02):
of everything from the huddle to the room, to the
hallway to being the first in and the last out.
And it's one thing. Sure we all know people like this.
They punched the time clock and then nobody knows where they.
You know, everybody worked at that grocery store in high
school where there's the one guy that's like, yeah, did
you hear you know John was punching the time clock

(01:04:24):
and then going and taking a nap in the paper
towel rolls in the stock room and then coming back
four hours later and punching out and nobody knows he
wasn't there. You know that kind of thing. You get
people to go through the problem, just go through the
motion of it. And I think Stichen has basically been
telling us now that that's what that he didn't feel
Richardson was doing those other things, and he's utilizing that now.

(01:04:46):
It's it's seeped into him explaining to us with other
players what it is that he likes. He is screaming
the message to us, and I aired and not hearing
the message because I got caught up in all the noise, right,
and I wasn't just listening to the core message.

Speaker 2 (01:05:05):
And now what you have is.

Speaker 1 (01:05:10):
I think the message that now we shift to is
now that we know that it's Daniel Jones. He is
saying to us, I need somebody that is all in
on the process and being a leader from in all
areas and aspects, because I Shane Steichen was brought here

(01:05:33):
to be a quarterback whisperer, and if as a quarterback whisperer,
I'm still speaking too softly for the quarterback that I
was thought to be awakening to hear it, then I
have to go with the guy that actually at least
has hearing aids and can figure out what I'm saying.
And I believe that's Daniel Jones. And I believe that
Daniel Jones will give me the best opportunity to call

(01:05:57):
a game that benefits the quarterback, that utilizes the weapons
that we have, that allows us to win games, and
allows me to keep my job. I'm not saying his
job this year is like right on the razor's edge,
but I think he knows the NFL stands for not
for long. And if you look at that game, against Miami,

(01:06:19):
and you look at the way Shane Steiken strategized that game.
He offered for us the blueprint, and the blueprint is
you come out in a game, you establish Tyler Warren,
you get him going, You make it very clear this
is the guy that we're going to punch you in
the mouth with. And then once you adapt your defense

(01:06:43):
to take away that middle area where Tyler Warren is
roaming around, then we're going to take advantage of the
areas where you just softened yourself. And we're going to
utilize Jonathan Taylor, and we're gonna utilize Michael Pittman, and
we're gonna utilize even Alec Peers and even Adie Mitchell.

(01:07:04):
That's what the game plan is. And then we're going
to once we get a lead. And yes, it's a
lot easier to maintain and hold on to a lead
theoretically with Miami or maybe even Denver than it's going
to be if you're playing Kansas City or Baltimore Buffalo.
I get that, but in these games, I mean, hoon,

(01:07:24):
does Houston have an offense that blows you away? Does
Tennessee have an offense that blows you away? Does Jacksonville
have an offense that blows you away. You want to
win your division games first, and you're seeing the blueprint
right now. He is spelling it out for you, because
that's what Shane Steiken does. He speaks coach speak, and
he says the same thing over and over. But the
message is there, and that message is sort through and

(01:07:50):
find the finite message of what I'm saying, and that
is that the blueprint of how we're going to play
is we are going to be a team that is
winning organizationally. And what you saw against Miami is exactly
that they went out, they did what they needed to do,
they got the lead, and then once they did, you
let lou Ana Arumo turn that defense loose, You roll

(01:08:12):
with it, You hold on to that lead, and you
keep your offense in such a fashion that Miami never
was able to get back in that game. And I
think they're going to try to do the same thing
against Denver. Try an hour from now. By the way,
Debbie Antonelli joins us on the program, and we will
preview for you what we're going to discuss with her,
because is this now have we shifted with another sports

(01:08:36):
team in town from Moral victories to let's see where
things lie, or are we just planning seeds that we
hope to water a year from now? I'll explain next.
So let's put this in a PACER's language. Weird to say,

(01:09:00):
I realize, especially when comparing the Pacers to the Fever.
Even though they are under the same ownership umbrella, they
are two different franchises, two different things, you know, two
different genders for that matter.

Speaker 3 (01:09:11):
But Jake, we get Pacers basketball in a month.

Speaker 2 (01:09:14):
It's crazy, isn't it?

Speaker 6 (01:09:15):
I know?

Speaker 1 (01:09:19):
And the regular season will begin what in six weeks?
Seven weeks?

Speaker 3 (01:09:23):
I yeah, they end the next month. Win total thirty
seven and a half. By the way, I'm telling you
right now, are you in the Jeff record thinking where
he's got them at fifty plus?

Speaker 2 (01:09:33):
Do you know who? Do you know who? Edwin Moses is?

Speaker 3 (01:09:37):
Yes? Yes I do.

Speaker 1 (01:09:39):
By the way, there are a lot of areas where
Jeff and I have in common when it comes to
fifty plus, But I don't know that the win total
prognostication will be one of them.

Speaker 3 (01:09:46):
He's a former Olympian, isn't he not?

Speaker 1 (01:09:47):
Edwin Moses is perhaps the most impressive Olympian of all time.
He was a hurdler that had he didn't lose, since obviously, Eddie,
you have pulled him up on the Wikipedia, which is
all knowing.

Speaker 3 (01:10:00):
No, I did not.

Speaker 1 (01:10:02):
Edwin Moses did not lose a I'm looking at your
face a hurdling battle in like ten years something like that.
He had an incredible record. But I think personally that
the Pacers having to go for an over of thirty
seven and a half is like Edwin Moses having to

(01:10:26):
clear two pieces of lego in a hurdle that is
the easiest over to leap of all time. The Pacers
are going to win, now, fifty is very bullish, but
I think they do. I think they clear forty two
to forty five. Jake, you think the Pacers clearing the

(01:10:47):
thirty seven and a half. It's like you giving a
bad analogy, like he wants to show at some point, Yes,
that's correct, Okay, I just look and I will admit.

Speaker 2 (01:10:55):
It is so.

Speaker 1 (01:10:58):
Easy to forget that Tyree's Halliburton's out. I mean, because
you think about it and you go, okay, so they
lost Miles Turner and oh wait a minute, I forgot
Halliburton's out as well. So it's a team, But they
still have Pascal Siakam. Yes, his it's changed a little
bit in the way that teams are going to guard him.

(01:11:21):
You still have anderwdim Hart. Yes, it changes a little bit,
although nim Hart is a guy that when he has
had to be a focal point, he's had big games.
But can he do that night in night out. You're
gonna get a lot of points from Benedict Mathern. You know,
they still have good pieces there, you know, aaron Ne
Smith obviously I think the world of but there are
question marks for sure. But I think they do go

(01:11:41):
forty two. I mean I think they become this past
seasons Orlando Magic and how many games did Orlando win.
I'm gonna guess they won forty two. They were like
a seven seed.

Speaker 3 (01:11:57):
They were also like does some with injuries the entire year, right,
Paula Benco miss time, Franz Wagner miss time, No Wagner
towards Aco and they still won.

Speaker 1 (01:12:08):
What was their record? Do you have the record in
front of you.

Speaker 3 (01:12:10):
I'm pulling it up now.

Speaker 1 (01:12:11):
I'm going to guess it was forty to forty five somewhere.

Speaker 3 (01:12:14):
In there, right, Orlando Magic forty one and forty one.

Speaker 1 (01:12:17):
Bingo clear as easily thirty seven and a half. But
here's the point I was trying to make, and you
illustrated it well there, Eddie. The Pacers this year, when
you look at the injuries and the personnel, the benchmark
of what you consider to be a success is in

(01:12:40):
fact different than it was this time a year ago.
This time of year ago, they were coming off of
the playoff run with the Knicks and into the Eastern
Conference finals, and you know, wow, Halliburton's really emerging as
a star. And now that they siakam, they've gotten accustomed
to that, and let's see what they can do. And

(01:13:03):
they got out to a slow start because Nie Smith
and nim Hard were out and we later learned how
incredibly important those two guys are. And once it all
came together, I mean, that was as fun a team
as this city has ever seen, and the city fell
in love with them. The Indiana Fever going into now

(01:13:25):
the postseason. After last night's win over Minnesota, we knew
they were going to be in the postseason regardless, but
that is a nice win over one of the best
teams in the league. But for the Fever, because they
are a team that has been decimated by injury. If
the Pacers make the playoffs next year, it's a win,

(01:13:46):
and anything above that's gravy. If the Pacers win forty
one games next year, or let's say go forty four
and thirty eight and get into the playoffs, and then
in the playoffs, let's say they get bounced in six
games by second seed in Cleveland. I think most people

(01:14:07):
would be like, yeah, I'll take that. That's cool. But
if Halliburton had not gotten hurt, and even if Turner
had left. But if you have Halliburton and they go
forty four and thirty eight and get bounced in the
first round, it literally is like people are crying in
the streets. Your expectations change based on the personnel and

(01:14:30):
the flow of your season. So for the Fever now
to make the playoffs and now going into the postseason,
in what I think there is a lot of parody
within the WNBA and one of the better teams that
is expected to win the WNBA Minnesota, as a team
that Indiana has multiple wins against this year, even when
hurt by injury. The question is which expectation is there

(01:14:57):
now for the Fever. Are we going with with the
expectation of hey, mission accomplished, with everything they went through
this year, with everything they went through this year, and
I saw some national prognosticators that we're talking about, like, oh,
they're trying to ruin Caitlin Clark and they're penalizing Caitlin
Clark because players don't like her and all that. That's

(01:15:19):
the dumbest load of crap I've ever heard. Don't waste
my time. Don't sit here and insult my intelligence. My
intelligence didn't very high anyway, but don't insult my intelligence
when you are air dropping in watching something from thirty
five thousand feet away. Don't waste my time. This team
has been decimated by injury. They have had to go

(01:15:39):
with multiple options and variations and combinations in their back court.
They have plugged in different players, some of which worked,
some of which did not. Question, is Eddie is this
and think about this and give me the answer on
the other side and we'll further discuss and Debbie Antonella
joining us two thirty Is this now for the Indiana
Fever mission accomplished or does the work just begin.

Speaker 2 (01:16:06):
Now? I'd like to know.

Speaker 1 (01:16:09):
And unfortunately, on the text line, this one doesn't have
a name on it. Jake, I love your show, but
you're being the get off my lawn guy right now?
That was at one time. What were we talking about
at one twenty where I was saying get off my lawn.

Speaker 4 (01:16:28):
I don't know that was during the Shane Stichen conversation,
but he could be hearkening back to the foul ball conversation.

Speaker 5 (01:16:35):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:16:37):
Maybe that person was driving and they waited to get
to their destination before. That's sending off the text.

Speaker 4 (01:16:42):
We support safe driving around here, we do.

Speaker 1 (01:16:46):
Hey, Jake, it's Lord of the flies at that baseball's
on the ground, Okay, first first come, first serve on
the ball. I just think, like, it's just weird like
people that. Yeah, the lady probably reacted, but the dude, like,
I mean, she was basically from what the way it
looked to me was that she As a matter of fact,

(01:17:07):
if you listen to the people around her, if you've
seen the different angle, there are people around her that
are yelling at him. They're like, hey, man, like she
was like reaching down to get the ball and you
like came storming in and took the ball and ran
off with it. But either way, we move on. Okay,
So Eddie the for the Fever. Yeah, is it mission
accomplished or is there is this a clean slate and

(01:17:35):
now the season is going to be defined based on
what they do in the postseason. Season will not be
defined on what to do in the postseason.

Speaker 3 (01:17:41):
JK. Will only make this season much more memorable, maybe
than what it already is. I was talking with Caleb
just during the break. Kind of reminds me of, you know,
the Washington Commanders last year, in the sense of, there's
this team that probably shouldn't have made it into playoffs,
that's in the playoffs. So it makes them that much

(01:18:03):
more difficult to defeat because they're playing for nothing. They've
got nothing to prove. They're just going to go out
there and be scrappy, be resilient, be tough, all those
things every night, and it makes it hard for the
opponent because they have all the pressure on them. The
Indiana Fever in this scenario are the Washington Commanders. They
have no pressure on them going into this playoff series.

(01:18:24):
Whomever they get, whomever they face, and they can go
in there play their style of basketball, be free about it.
Now have any sort of pressure during the entire thing
and more than likely Jake. Depending on which team you
get between Las Vegas and Atlanta, there's a chance that
one of those two road games in Atlanta could feel
like a somewhat home game just because there are so

(01:18:47):
many Fever fans now across the WNBA.

Speaker 1 (01:18:50):
But those Fever fans are there primarily to see Caitlin Clark.

Speaker 3 (01:18:53):
Right, agreed, but they're still I mean, the Fever are
still their Ember one team in attendance, despite Caitlin Clark
missing thirty one games this year, and that's home and away.

Speaker 2 (01:19:03):
Fair enough, I would agree that at this point it is.

Speaker 1 (01:19:09):
I mean, look, maybe I'm living on the high of
the Pacers run. You know that PACER's run to me
was a little bit liberating and because of the fact,

(01:19:34):
and I had this discussion the other day with somebody,
and I've made a lot of this, I've mentioned this
a lot, but to give it the perspective, I became
so robotically programmed and conditioned in this job to not
allow sports fandom to influence the way I go about things.

(01:19:56):
And the way that I did that was maybe I
just didn't trust myself enough from a professional standpoint, But
when I was covering games to allow my objectivity to
be that of which I was able to responsibly break
down or discuss games. Especially when I worked in television,
you just set aside a rooting interest. It's I don't

(01:20:16):
know how to explain it other than you know, it's
like a doctor if you ask them like if blood
grosses them out, and they'd probably say, like, well, yeah,
like in a movie, yes, but not when I'm working,
because it's just you're in that's the environment you're honed
in on. But that Pacers run this year, and I
think I made the declaration on this show ahead of

(01:20:37):
time that I was setting aside that objectivity. I just
was going to relinquish it and be a fan and
make no bones on this radio show about the fact
that I was coming at it from a fan perspective,
and I asked the patients and forgiveness of the audience
of that. But to an extent, it was okay because
everybody in the city was caught up and the fandom

(01:20:58):
was what made that so much fun for even like
people that aren't die her Pacer pans, I think they
got engrossed in the fun of that run. Pardon the pun.
See I'm rhyming, gosh, But with the fever, I think
a little bit of learning how to see and embrace

(01:21:19):
and celebrate the positives of something instead of always critiquing
it from the other side has carried over from me
a little bit with the fever, because number one, I
see people that get enjoyment out of the fever that
didn't previously watch women's basketball or even basketball a lot
in general. Yeah, and number two, the if you really

(01:21:44):
look and I understand if you were somebody nationally, for example,
that didn't watch every game or they didn't follow them
every game. And yes, I have respect for Stephanie White
and have known her for a long time. And so
maybe that this clouds the clarity of me being able
to determine said things of what I'm about to say.

(01:22:07):
But I actually look at this as gravy because I
think it is so impressive what this franchise has overcome
this year. I mean, no matter what team you're talking about,
the Colts, the Pacers, the Denver Broncos, you know, when

(01:22:27):
you are going through the year playing the better half
of the year with your main quarterback, your main point guard,
your main ace pitcher out and then seemingly each player
that you were bringing in to fill that void, hoping
to get eighty to ninety percent the same level of production,

(01:22:48):
they get hurt. And each time that you have to
then go even further down the depth chart of whether
your own roster or the cast offs of another roster,
or whatever it may be, to find that replacement. Each
time you do that, you're dropping another eight to ten
percent of production. And now all of a sudden you've
got players playing where you're like, we're just hoping to

(01:23:08):
get sixty percent of what we're just getting. We're just
sixty percent of what we initially had at that position.
And yet with that, they still and I know they
had their struggles and there were games they lost that
were ugly, but for the most part, you know, what

(01:23:29):
they did and able to on the fly continue to
have to reinmit themselves just to get into the postseason
and not let it collapse underneath them, to me, was impressive.
And anything here on now is gravy. But that again,
if they were totally healthy, that would not be the

(01:23:50):
case at all, but they're not. And I you know,
back to the Pacers and the thirty seven and a
half for next year. I just keep forgetting. And I
don't mean to sit here and remind everybody of the
obvious and hit you with a frying pan with it.
But I think the Miles Turner loss of him going

(01:24:11):
to Milwaukee was such a shock to the system and
so unexpected and out of nowhere that it usurps the
fact that Tyrese Haliburton got hurt. You almost forget about
the fact that there's no Halliburton because you think, like, yeah,
they're not going to be that bad.

Speaker 2 (01:24:29):
They lost Miles Turner, but.

Speaker 1 (01:24:30):
They still have yeah, And then you're like, oh, gosh,
I forgot. I just keep forgetting. And part of it,
too is Halliburton is such a unique energy and personality
anyway that he's out and about now and you're seeing
him and he has not missed a beat in terms
of his infectious optimism and radiance, and so when you

(01:24:53):
see him, you forget he's hurt and you're like, oh, gosh,
that's right.

Speaker 3 (01:24:57):
Well, not to mention Jake, They've got the depth that
thinks to be able to, you know, withstand some of
that departure. You think they can. They think they can hodgepodge,
you know, on a nightly basis the center position and
finding production from a collective group effort between whomever ends
up being Jahif, Isaiah Jackson, James Wiseman, Tony Bradley, and

(01:25:19):
then you're hopeful that Andrew Nemark he managed the game,
and Benedict Mathern takes a step forward, Jaris Walker takes
a step forward.

Speaker 1 (01:25:27):
Here's the Here's the thing. There's another thing that comes
into play with that when you look at and it
is the burning question of the Pacer season. There's a
burning question. There was a burning question about the Colts
going into this offseason, you know, three months ago when
they when they reported to Westfield, there was a burning

(01:25:49):
question about the Colts season. And we started to get
an answer on that burning question. And in reality, there
is a burning question when it comes to the Pacers season.
And it has nothing to do with the health of
Tyres Haliburton and his timeline, and it has nothing to
do with Miles Turner. But there is a burning question.

(01:26:13):
I'll answer that and we'll get back into what Shane
Steiken talked about in terms of a subtraction, if you will,
for the Colts next. So we were talking about the
Pacers and the Colts.

Speaker 3 (01:26:28):
Now he's playing more of Rtune's Jake.

Speaker 2 (01:26:30):
That is correct.

Speaker 1 (01:26:31):
Nice work there, Okay, this is one of my favorite
songs of all time for the Pacers. There's a burning
question coming up this year, and I have a feeling
in Sometimes speculation can be dangerous because speculation can turn

(01:26:54):
it into fact if you're not careful. For example, I'll
go with a more esoteric reference. Robert Schwartzman. And many
of you, when I hear that you're like Robert Schwartzman,
how do I know the name Robert Swartzman. Wherever I
heard the name Robert Schwartzman. Robert Schwartzman was the polsitter

(01:27:15):
this year for the Indianapolis five hundred mile race, and that,
to be honest with you, was the and I don't
mean this in a bad way. I mean that's a
pretty good highlight. That was the season highlight for Robert Schwartzman.
For certain, Premier Racing is the team for which he drives.
He was teamed with Calum Ilot. He was born in
Tel Aviv. He was the first driver to be born

(01:27:36):
in Israel to make the Indianapolis five hundred and he
does so as a rookie on poll and there were
a lot of storylines behind that, and he had an
incident on Pitt Road where his race kind of went awry.
And I mean he didn't have a terrible race. He
finished in the middle of the pack in the five hundred,
and then over the course of the rest of the
year had a couple of moments here and there, but
for the most part was you know, he was out

(01:27:58):
there and he was the I don't know, the Kansas
City Royals, you know, I mean good games, bad games.
But there was this narrative with Robert Schwartzman amongst the
Indy Car Paddick and amongst the circle of like, yeah,
Schwartzman doesn't like it here, and Prema is getting ready
to make a bunch of changes and he's probably gone
next year. And Robert Schwartzman just sent a post that says,

(01:28:22):
and I'm paraphrasing it, look, I want to address something here.
Everybody is saying I'm unhappy here. Everybody is saying I
don't want to return. I've never said any of that.
I've enjoyed it, I found it welcoming. I enjoyed the
challenge of the racing series here. I enjoyed the Indy
five hundred. I had a great experience, I had a
great year, and I plan on and want to be
back next year. All of this, by the way, jis

(01:28:42):
with everything Robert Schwartzman told me over the course of
the year. And so Schwartzman is basically saying, I don't
know where this narrative came from that I am not
going to be back next year, But it didn't come
from me. And I think there are certain burning questions
about both the Pacers and the Colts that we can

(01:29:06):
look at and say that popular narrative or common perception
becomes a fact from everybody except for those that actually
are the ones that are making the influence of said decision.
And let's begin with the one for the Pacers. I
think most people on the street would tell you that

(01:29:30):
they believe this year the Pacers offensively are going to
heavily rely on Benedict Mathern, and that Benedict Mathern is
a guy that in particular, as you saw last year
in the finals in Game four, notably, actually in game

(01:29:51):
my games all get confused here, which one is the
game that they So it was game number three that
they which one's the one that he won them the
game Eddie was at Game three. I'll go back home
either way. Either way, there was a game in the

(01:30:11):
finals where Bennett Matheren was very big for Indiana and
made big play after big play, but he did so
almost like in isolation from the way that they typically
run offensively. That was Game three, right, yeah, Game three.
He was very big in Game three and they won
that game to go up two games to one, and
it was like, this is tremendous how this guy has

(01:30:34):
played and he has kept them in this game. But
when Matherin is carrying you in the game, you are
kind of riding the back of Mathern and feeding that
as opposed to in the flow of that circular offense
so to speak, that they do where they are balanced
and Nie Smith gets red hot for a minute, and

(01:30:55):
then Haliburton starts hitting shots, and then Turner was hitting shots,
and then Siakim gets on the wing and you're just
spreading it around. When Matheren was scoring, it was wonderful,
but it requires more attention offensively, more intention and so
when you look at the Pacers this year, I think

(01:31:16):
there is the question that a lot of people have
of are the Pacers going to ride Benedict Matherin this
year because they want to develop Benedict Mathern as yet
another piece that they have once Haliburton comes back, and
once Siakam is towards the end of his contract, and
Niece Smith you've got to figure out what you're doing
with that and nim Hard and wow, how awesome is

(01:31:37):
it going to be to have this additional weapon that
now has all of his bearings about him because we've
seen glimpses of what he can do, and how good
is he going to be? And how good are they
going to be if all of a sudden, now he
comes in and he is there like James Worthy, or
he is there Tony Kukoach, or he is there Ray Allen,

(01:31:59):
or that that when there are other stars, he's the
guy off the bench that's making big time plays or
and this is the big question, are the Pacers going
to utilize this year for Benedict Matherin to make him
a big time scorer, to feature what he can do
in isolation, to show that he can be a twenty

(01:32:20):
to twenty two point per game score, and then flip
him into the proverbial twenty twenty five. Guy, are they
getting ready to allow Benedict Matherin to audition what he
can do so that they can then let every team
in the league see it for a test drive before
they then go out and facilitate for him to be

(01:32:42):
playing elsewhere. And are they getting ready to give him
all of those minutes? And Rick Carlisle has said, look,
Matheren is our guy. He is a starter for us.
Let's just get this right out there. And that's great.
But the perception amongst most I think most people that
were at Game Abridge field House for game number six,
I think most people who are planning this year and

(01:33:05):
looking forward to the season, most of those people are
under the assumption that Bennedict Matherin is the one that
is not going to be a long term player for
the Pacers. But you know who hasn't said that, Kevin Pritchard,
Chad Buchanan, Rick Carlyle, Bennett matherin perception could become a reality,

(01:33:28):
but we are assuming that that perception is fact.

Speaker 2 (01:33:33):
It's not yet.

Speaker 1 (01:33:34):
But that's the burning question. That's the burning question is
in which way are they going? Are they going to
groom and hand everything to matherin this year, either a
out of this season's necessity, be out of next season's luxury,

(01:33:55):
or c out of showcasing it for someone else. That's
the question, and we don't know the answer to that now.
The Colts, on the other hand, we had this burning
question going into this season with Daniel Jones. Once he
was selected as the quarterback, then it became is Daniel

(01:34:20):
Jones the starting quarterback for the Colts out of necessity
for this season because they didn't think Richardson was ready
to go yet out of luxury for next season because
it either grooms Anthony Richardson in showcases and leads by
example to where then all of a sudden it all

(01:34:42):
clicks and he's off and running. And while that happens,
you get benefit this year because you're winning games because
you have competency at the quarterback spot, or is it
coming at the showcase of someone else because you are
either a get to let Jones become Sam Darnold and

(01:35:04):
then let him walk and somebody else, you know, gives
you something for him, or he signs you know, he's
a free agent at the end of the year, or
more importantly, because it allows you then to keep teams
guessing as to Anthony Richardson, and maybe somebody then takes
a flyer on Richardson and gives you goods for him,
because you need Jones to play well if you are

(01:35:25):
looking to trade Anthony Richardson, If the Colts are looking
to trade Anthony Richardson, and I'm not saying they are,
but perceptions and reality, and the perceptions amongst a lot
of people are that Anthony Richardson is a guy that
the Indianapolis Colts have moved on from. Chris Ballard says publicly,

(01:35:47):
not the case at all. We have no interest in
trading him. But the rest of the fan base is
convinced otherwise.

Speaker 2 (01:35:59):
But the number one.

Speaker 1 (01:36:02):
Starting point for marketability of Anthony Richardson is a good
Daniel Jones. How does that, Jake, How does that make sense?
If Daniel Jones is playing well, Anthony Richardson has not
even seen the field, understood. But what if the Colts

(01:36:23):
don't want Anthony Richardson to see the field anyway? What
if the Colts have seen in Anthony Richardson are like, look,
we tried everything, we tried everything. We we benched him
after the helmet tap, we we benched him, you know,
and obviously he was hurt.

Speaker 2 (01:36:42):
I realized.

Speaker 1 (01:36:42):
But like during OTAs we we mentioned, we kept using
words like organizational you know, awareness and starting in the
locker room and being the first one in and we've
we've done everything we can.

Speaker 2 (01:36:58):
What if the Colts are over it.

Speaker 1 (01:37:02):
And they're willing to take whatever is offered for Anthony Richardson, Well, Jake,
how can Anthony Richardson's value increase if he's not on
the field, If he's not going to be on the
field either way, how bad does it look if he
can't meet out Daniel Jones. If Daniel Jones is going
out there and he's looking like Davis Mills. The Colts

(01:37:25):
need Daniel Jones to play well, not just because it
wins the Colts games this year, but because it also
justifies why the great enigma of Hope is not on
the field and is so long as you can make
it look justified that Anthony Richardson's not on the field,
then you can continue to intrigue other teams as to

(01:37:46):
what may be there. But if they literally are going
out and this was not the case in Week one,
but if Daniel Jones starts to come back down to
earth and look pedestrian and goes out there and looks
like and I'm trying to think of Eddie, give me
the name of a quarterback that like, is one that

(01:38:07):
you're like, I can't believe this guy's still in the NFL.
And I'm not saying Joe Flacco, but a guy that
just you look at it and you go, that is
not a starting quarterback in the National Football League.

Speaker 3 (01:38:18):
Well, Spencer Ratler.

Speaker 2 (01:38:19):
Okay, there you go.

Speaker 1 (01:38:20):
If Daniel Jones is going out there and he looks
like Spencer Ratler, then other teams are gonna say, what
in the world does that tell you about this guy?
Number five? He can't beat that out. And I think
Shane Steiken gets a ton of credit for not only

(01:38:41):
recognizing and I know I'm a broken record when I
say it, but he's been telling us this all along.
I mentioned it earlier. Shane Steiken speaks in coach speak.
But let me play for you to my point. When

(01:39:01):
you talk about the situation that the Colts are currently
in in their defensive backfield, okay, and in their backfield they.

Speaker 2 (01:39:13):
They have.

Speaker 1 (01:39:14):
Now we know Shavarius Ward is in the concussion protocol.
That's a totally uncertain future.

Speaker 2 (01:39:19):
Who knows.

Speaker 1 (01:39:21):
Where that goes, right, that's number one. So he came
out and said, yes, Ward is still in the concussion protocol. Okay, fine,
Jalen Jones, he said, is going to miss some time.
Doesn't know how long, but he's going to be out
for a while. Okay. So there's number two right.

Speaker 2 (01:39:42):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:39:43):
That means probably that Kenny Moore has to go away
from the nickels, start to play more at corner. He's
capable of doing that. Then Blackman, who's your backup nickel,
now all of a sudden moves into that primary role.
He's getting more reps. He's a guy that you made
a trade for at the end of training camp, comes
in from Minnesota. Don't know as much about him. He
doesn't know. He's probably still wearing a name tag. But

(01:40:05):
Shane Steiken was asked about Blackman getting up to speed
and listen to what he said, because I think there
are a lot of clues here.

Speaker 2 (01:40:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (01:40:13):
No, I thought he did a great job coming in.
He put in the time, put in the work. He
was always in with the dB coaches. Jerome Henderson, he
spent a lot of time with him. I walked past
his office when he signed him. He was in there
all day, every day learning the system. So credit to him,
Credit to Jerome and Chris getting him up to speed
as fast as possible.

Speaker 1 (01:40:30):
It doesn't matter what position it is or how far
down the depth chart or when a guy was acquired,
what Shane Stiken looks for as much as anything else,
being in the room when I walked past in the hallway,
being there every day, all day, working with the coaches
and getting up to speed. I don't think that Anthony

(01:40:55):
Richardson's a bad guy in any way, shape or form.
I have no evidence of that. I don't think Anthony
Richardson is an unintelligent guy in any way, shape or form.
I have no evidence of that. No one has any
evidence of that. I don't think either one of those
are true. But I think that Anthony Richardson, because of

(01:41:16):
the natural gifts that he has, and because to an
extent of the situations that he was in prior to
getting to the NFL, was never in a situation where
he had to be in the building all day, every day,
where he had to be in the coach's room all
the time. So it's not to say that he bucks

(01:41:38):
against doing it or has a problem doing it. He
just before that it has never been conditioned in him
and Shane Steichen, in talking about the defensive backfield today
went back and again. For a guy that speaks coach speak,
he tells us and sprinkles us hence about the way
that he sees how things should go. And in doing that,

(01:42:01):
he talks about the things that have nothing to do
with what we the fans, we the media, we the
season ticket buyers see. And when he announced Daniel Jones
as the quarterback, he was rewarding those things of which
Shane Steiken emphasizes that have nothing to do with going

(01:42:23):
through the proper checkdown, that have nothing to do with
precision and accuracy on a bubble screen, and has everything
to do with what he wants in terms of seeing
the commitment and in going with Daniel Jones, he wanted
to reward the principles that he believes in which are
those And in doing so, he knew that he was

(01:42:45):
gambling on not Daniel Jones and not against Anthony Richardson,
but Shane Stiken was betting on himself because he was saying,
I was hired for this job because the belief was
the track record is the area of expertise on my

(01:43:06):
LinkedIn profile is I'm a quarterback whisperer. I can get
Jalen Hurts to flip a switch. I've worked with guys
that as young players, I've seen them develop, and I've
been brought to Indianapolis because we all know that they
are going to need to jumpstart the career of a

(01:43:29):
young quarterback and I'm the guy that can do it.
And he came in and for the first time he
worked with a quarterback that not due to ill intention,
not due to malice, maybe just due to immaturity. And
I don't mean like throwing spitballs in meetings and making
fart noises with his armpits. I mean an immaturity just
in terms of a lack of experience in what is

(01:43:51):
expected of him and a lack of understanding of what's
expected of him. In Anthony Richardson and so Shane Sichin said,
if I've been brought up to be brought in here
to head coach in the National Football League because of
my expertise in dealing with quarterbacks, then I need to
go with the one that gets the messages. And I'm

(01:44:12):
going to bet on the fact that Daniel Jones I
can come up with game plans that allow him to
succeed and reward him for the fact that he follows
and adheres to the principles I'm trying to set as
the message for the totality of my roster. It's what
I want to see out of my defensive backs, and
it's what I want to see out of my quarterback.

(01:44:33):
And I can't go out and emphasize the importance of
that and expect to see it out of my defensive
backs when I have attrition taking place early in the
season in my secondary room, I can't then go out
and expect those guys to be able to be up

(01:44:55):
to speed. If I'm putting a quarterback in that is
not the shining example of what I'm trying to emphasize.
I'm going to go with the quarterback that sets the
example to the rest of the roster that he is
doing the things that I want him to do. And
then I'm going to go out in Game one against
the Miami Dolphins, and I am going to schematically set

(01:45:18):
up my team and call the game in ways that
benefit Daniel Jones, and I'm going to utilize my tight
end first and work everything off of that, and I'm
going to call the game so that I am working
within the strength of Daniel Jones, because what I'm betting
on is not that Daniel Jones can do it. I'm
doing every single move possible to exhibit that I, Shane Steichen,

(01:45:41):
am still a quarterback whisperer, and I believe that I
can get the most out of this particular quarterback versus
the other one, and that's where my job security lies.

Speaker 2 (01:45:52):
And so I'm doing it.

Speaker 1 (01:45:53):
This is the guy that I'm picking, and it's not
the popular pick and it's not the expected pick, but
it's the one that best allows me to exhibit the
principles I have and the knowledge I have as a coach,
and therefore that's where I'm going with it. And I'm
betting on myself to get the most out of Daniel
Jones and justify my decision. And it's for that reason

(01:46:15):
that I believe. And I again, things in the National
Football League, not for long can change one week to
the next. I totally get that, but I personally believe that,
barring injury, he is going to be the guy all year,
even if he struggles and he may have a bad game.

(01:46:35):
He may come out against Denver and all of a sudden,
We're like, what in the world happened? What in the
world happened? Last week we had Daniel Jones and this
week we had Burt Jones. Problem is we had the
twenty twenty five version of Burt Jones, and he was
the quarterback in nineteen seventy eight.

Speaker 3 (01:46:50):
What happened?

Speaker 1 (01:46:51):
That may be the case, and if that happens, I
think when they can come back against Tennessee, even if
Daniel Jones has a disastrous week too, he is still
the starter of Week three because I think Shane Stikeen
at this point has just said I've tried everything. I
literally I tried a bullhorn. I tried a big neon

(01:47:12):
sign out on West fifty sixth Street to get the
message across, and it didn't come across, and I ran
out of time. And I'm betting on this guy. But
the burning question for the Colts coming into this year
was not only who was going to be the quarterback,
but was it going to be the quarterback long term?
Is Daniel Jones Benedict Mathern, Is Daniel Jones the quarterback

(01:47:35):
that they are putting him out there, and they are
getting the reps because they feel it's best advantageous for
them as a luxury for the future or simply out
of necessity for the now that they then flip into
more for someone else with Richardson, and that's where Mathron is.

Speaker 2 (01:47:55):
The fever.

Speaker 1 (01:47:56):
Last night against Minnesota getting a big win. Eddie Garrison
was on both the pre and post game. Debbie Antonelli
going to join us just a couple of minutes from
now to talk about exactly that. But Eddie, that was
a game that you knew right away, and you get
games like this, yep, where you know right away from
the get go, okay, this is going to be a
big night. And I thought it was impressive when they

(01:48:17):
jumped out to I think it was a ten tozzing
lead Minnesota, whether that storm got it back to within
a possession or two, and then Indiana went on another run.
I thought their answer and their bounce back on multiple
occasions last night was impressive.

Speaker 3 (01:48:32):
Oh yeah, it was in. Yeah, Minnesota cut up to
four the start the third quarter, and it just felt
like Minnesota was checked out in that game. Like man
if the ones he locked up, they know they can't,
you know, obviously improve the record at all, and a
piece of Collier's out because the restinger Djne Carrington is
quote unquote injured with the shoulder injury. So a lot
of the players on the floor last night from Minnesota

(01:48:53):
were just going through the motions and the Fever capitalized
on it. They were able to push the ball up
the floor quick and fast and as Stephanie White calls
at point five basketball, and they were able to get
a win go into the playoffs on a high note.
They've won three consecutive games, four of their last five,
and right now they're a team that you probably don't
want to face. And if you're Indiana, you're hoping it's

(01:49:14):
set Land Dream and not the Philosophagas Aces, because that's
probably the team you actually don't want to face in
the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (01:49:21):
Debbie Antonelli is a show favorite and joins us next
favorite guest of the program, Debbie Antonelli. Of course you
see her television work when it comes to the w
NBA and the Indiana Fever Fever in the playoffs. Now,
the regular season wrapping up, they ended with a strong
win over the Minnesota Links last night. Debbie Antonelli joining

(01:49:42):
us on the always busy and shockingly unsponsored guest line. Debbie,
I'm going to begin with this. You thought I was
bringing you on to talk about the fever, and we're
going to get to that. You thought I was going
to bring you on to talk about the WNBA. We're
going to get to that as well. But the most
important topic at hand is this, and that is the
last time that we talked, we had talked about and

(01:50:03):
I had you on along with John Wheeler, our friend
from just to the southeast of here that is a
special Olympic basketball player, won a national championship representing Indiana
with a game winning shot years ago, and now was
trying to put together a package to get himself to Minnesota.
And you did a phenomenal job of spearheading a fundraising

(01:50:24):
effort for that. We got listeners involved as well, and
it is my understanding that he in fact will be
on his way to Minnesota.

Speaker 3 (01:50:31):
Is that correct, Jake.

Speaker 6 (01:50:34):
That's part of the reason why you're one of my
heroes in Indiana.

Speaker 8 (01:50:36):
I just love that you lead with this because yes,
he will be a part of the team delegation representing
Indiana playing basketball and coaching basketball in Minneapolis next summer.
So yes, it's very exciting, right, thank you for your help.
I want to thank the listeners that helped out John
who made enough money and raised enough money so that
he can go.

Speaker 2 (01:50:56):
I just love it. I love everything about it.

Speaker 1 (01:50:58):
And as I told him, you know, look, I know
he wants to win, and you know, these are competitors, right,
they're athletes like the rest of us, and they want
to win. But at the same time, there's a little
victory even before they go out, and what a win
that is to be able to They're already starting out
one to zero in my book, you know what I mean?

Speaker 8 (01:51:16):
Yeah, you know what that particular game Minnesota playing, not.

Speaker 6 (01:51:20):
Last night, but the last time Minnesota played, I.

Speaker 8 (01:51:23):
Said, twenty dollars for every three that Indiana and Minnesota
made combined. It was so fitting that it was Minnesota
and that's where he wanted to go. Those teams made
twenty two threes.

Speaker 6 (01:51:32):
I threw four hundred and forty bucks in a bucket
in a bucket for John.

Speaker 1 (01:51:36):
That's the best money you spent in a while, That's right,
you know. All right, Debbie, let's get to this. And
I was talking about this earlier, and I want you
to from a basketball standpoint, kind of enlighten with this
and that is this particular Fever team. I have been
so impressed with the resiliency that they've had to show

(01:51:57):
with roster, just based on in particular they're backcourt attrition
and you know, and it goes beyond Caitlin Clark's injury.
I mean Sophie Cunningham's you know, a great player, and
you know they've lost a lot of key pieces over
the course of the season, and yet they put themselves
in position out of the postseason. How do you, as
a coach or a player either one fight against that

(01:52:20):
being complacency and saying mission accomplished when in fact, now
there's a new mission before you.

Speaker 8 (01:52:26):
Well, first of all, you have to understand all the
advanced work the front office does to be able to
put Stephanie White in this position to be able to
lead these women right.

Speaker 6 (01:52:36):
So you've got to put the right pieces together.

Speaker 8 (01:52:38):
And it's not just skill set, it's character, it's personality,
it's all of it. Experience matters, especially when you get
into the playoffs and then Stephanie, you know, in basketball, Jake,
pretty much everybody runs the same stuff. You might change
your concepts a little bit, you might tweak or change something,
but nobody really runs anything that's much different than what

(01:53:00):
another team may run.

Speaker 6 (01:53:01):
But the personnel is how.

Speaker 8 (01:53:03):
The things change on the floor. And Stephanie White and
her staff have done an outstanding job plugging in pieces
that work, changing rotations, still learning about rotations. You don't
have to worry about complacency. You're never going to stay
the same. You either going to get better, you're going
to get worse. And I think right now, when you
get into the playoffs, this is not a team that's
just happy to be there. The format has changed. One

(01:53:26):
game on the road, the second game the Fever will
play at home. You know, can you imagine the environment.

Speaker 6 (01:53:31):
I mean, this is a team that's hungry to win,
so I wouldn't put anything past them.

Speaker 8 (01:53:35):
At this point.

Speaker 1 (01:53:36):
You know, Stephanie White and I talked about this a
little bit, Debbie, but I want to get your perspective
on it. The conventional wisdom is that with basketball, you know,
it used to be that depending on and I'll speak
it from a college level. You know, Bob Knights, Indiana
team goes out, you know you're going to see the
motion offense. And they're playing against North Carolina and Dean

(01:53:57):
Smith's going to run like the four corners, and you know,
then you go against UNLV and you know they're going
to play obviously, you know, or Nolan Richardson teams are
going to trap. You know, I mean all the different ways.
Is has basketball become more i'll say homogenized for lack
of a better term, because of the influence of the
Summer Aau style of play and thus, as a result,

(01:54:21):
it's become more positionless and less strict in terms of
an offensive set that is being run. Is that the
overwhelming drive and influence on why it is now the
way that you speak.

Speaker 8 (01:54:36):
Positionless, Jake, you know, perimeters and posts. That's pretty much
the way you describe it now.

Speaker 5 (01:54:41):
And I think what you see is the.

Speaker 8 (01:54:44):
It's not coaching basketball, it's coaching people. Okay, so you're
moving obviously it's coaching basketball, but you're moving pieces around
on your team to be able to put them in
the best possible ways to highlight their skill set. Look,
Kelsey Mitchell can score in any action, Okay. Stephanie White
can almost predict or dictate what time on the clock

(01:55:07):
she wants Kelsey in that single side ball screen action
with a leah okay, because you got to get a
ball reversal to get it back to Kelsey. So these
are the things that make Stephanie really good at what
she does. There is such a high level IQ and
thought process that goes into moving these pieces around these
individuals and then getting them to work together and sink in.

Speaker 6 (01:55:29):
A twenty four second shock lock.

Speaker 8 (01:55:31):
And the game is fast, so this decisions are coming fast,
angles are coming fast. Space is changing quickly, and you've
got to have the ability to move people into the
right spots and set them up for success. And that's
what Stephanie and the staff have done really well based
on position lists, perimeters and posts like you described it.

Speaker 1 (01:55:51):
We just saw Kelsey Mitchell complete a season with the
highest single season scoring average in Fever history. If I'm
not mistaken, I believe she surpassed Tamika in that regard.
And yet if you look at this roster, I don't
think you know there are sometimes Debbie as you know
that somebody you know, You look at a team and

(01:56:12):
you go, well, somebody's got to score on that team,
and you know twenty twenty five guys. As I always
say to me, this is very situational scoring, and it
has come for Kelsey Mitchell in ways that she's been
able to score in different ways and in different times
when it is needed. What has most impressed you about

(01:56:32):
her that you would say to people that look at
it and just assume that she's a volume scorer and
not a situational score if that makes sense, high.

Speaker 8 (01:56:40):
IQ incredible teammate, wants to win more than anything else
and would be willing to sacrifice a few shots if
it meant they could finish the playoffs at the end, right,
like go all the way to the end, and to
the end for Kelsey, because she's in the moment is
forty minutes, it's the next play. It's what you love

(01:57:01):
about her. She's never going to take a playoff. She's
going to guard the best offensive player on the perimeter on.

Speaker 5 (01:57:06):
The other team.

Speaker 8 (01:57:07):
She is going to do it without complaining. She's not
going to say anything to the officials, and if she does,
then she's probably right because that's been her demeanor all season.
I absolutely love Kelsey Mitchell. Now I can say this
about a lot of players, Jake, and this is true.
I've been watching them all since they were in college.
I saw Kelsey play when she was an AAU player
out of Cincinnati. Okay, I knew Kelsey and I've known

(01:57:30):
her for a long time. I've got Kelsey Mitchell's Ohio
State jersey. I've been waiting to wear it.

Speaker 6 (01:57:35):
I'm going to wear it everywhere I go.

Speaker 8 (01:57:36):
Now. I'm so proud of what she's become, who she is,
how she reps Indiana Fever, and what she means to
the WNBA. Right now, there's not a better guard in
the league than Kelsey Mitchell, and she should be getting
her due.

Speaker 6 (01:57:50):
She deserves it, she's earned it, and now she's.

Speaker 8 (01:57:53):
Got a one year of playoff experience from last year,
and I expect her to be really good next week.

Speaker 2 (01:57:59):
You know, other style.

Speaker 1 (01:58:00):
Debbie Antonelli is our guest. We're talking about the Indiana
Fever here another with every team in Debbie, I want
you to tell me, I mean, feel free to tell
me you've seen this team far in greater detail than
have I. So I may be wrong in this, okay,
but I always like players that can score for you
without it having to be designed for them to score. So,

(01:58:22):
in other words, they're opportune scorers, but players that from
one game to the next can redefine what it is
that they do based on what's needed on that particular night. Now,
you tell me if I'm wrong. But for this team,
the player that has really impressed me in that regard
from what I've seen is Tash Howard and the fact
that she doesn't need to be a frontline scorer and star,

(01:58:45):
but on certain nights she can be that if need be,
or she can help in other areas. I am I giving?
Am I misreading that?

Speaker 8 (01:58:53):
No? And I think that's another testament to Coach White
and their staff. They don't put Natasha Howard in situations
where she can't be instinctive. She is a very instinctive
go to the glass, drive hard, cut hard, you know, rebound,
run the floor. Those are the reasons why the front

(01:59:14):
office brought her to Indiana, and.

Speaker 3 (01:59:17):
She has three w NBA championships.

Speaker 8 (01:59:20):
She knows what it takes to win, she understands it,
and I know she's going to have a strong voice.
She's very well respected by her teammates, and I expect
that she will will turn it on because it's when
she needs to and she understands that Debbie.

Speaker 1 (01:59:33):
Do they in any way, shape or form the Fever
change schematically anything in the postseason? Do we see in
the postseason typically, whether it be pacing or the way
or wrinkles that you're trying to do. Do we see
any change from regular season to postseason or is it
pretty much push in on who you are?

Speaker 8 (01:59:55):
I think based on how their roster looks now, based
on the amount of reps that they've been able to
have together, how Stephanie White and her staff have simplified
things so that you can plug and play and you
can stay ready and just not be overwhelmed. I do
think having some time now today, they have off Tomorrow,

(02:00:15):
they'll practice Friday, they'll practice Saturday, they'll go travel somewhere.
They're gonna have a couple of days to work on themselves.
I know Stephanie White's gonna bring something, and you've better
be ready to figure it out.

Speaker 6 (02:00:26):
If I get to call the.

Speaker 8 (02:00:28):
Indiana Fever playoff games, I'm gonna be looking for that
subtle thing that Stephanie will do. It could be maybe
they're gonna trap more Boss Greens. It could be maybe
they're gonna do some sort of isolation with personnel. Based
on who they're playing, they'll be ready and they'll be
a tweak or a change because you can't get to
the playoffs without stepping up your level. And I know
this group of players having a couple of days to

(02:00:49):
practice together, which I don't think they've had, will give
them a chance to be ready on Sunday.

Speaker 2 (02:00:53):
Hey.

Speaker 1 (02:00:53):
Lastly, Debbie, when when your son Frankie was in school,
we've talked a lot about him on the show. Did
they have and I don't know if this is something
that's in all states. I know in Indiana, I don't
know how long it's been around, But did they have
unified sports when your son was in school?

Speaker 5 (02:01:10):
They did?

Speaker 8 (02:01:11):
And unified sports is something that I championed a lot.
It gives your peers a chance to compete with the athletes.
So I've been a unified partner. I've played basketball and
golf with Frankie.

Speaker 6 (02:01:23):
We have.

Speaker 8 (02:01:24):
Actually the last time I played basketball with Frankie Jake,
I put a GoPro on his head and turned it
on and let it. Just had fun watching that. Afterwards,
I wanted to see what he was doing, what he
was seeing. You know why I was playing hoops?

Speaker 6 (02:01:34):
It was pretty fun.

Speaker 8 (02:01:36):
Yeah, they have it, and I highly encourage anybody to
get involved. It's a great way to make friends.

Speaker 1 (02:01:41):
Well, and here's the thing, and this is why I
wanted to bring it up. I've got a friend whose
daughter is a cheerleader at Carmel in unified sports. She's
a special needs student. And here's what I've noticed, and
I've noticed this in other people whose children have been
involved in this, and this is partnering special need students
with those that are I hate say non special needs.

(02:02:03):
That comes off the wrong way, but you get what
I'm saying. The student athletes and the cheerleaders and whatnot,
puts them together on the same team. I want to
encourage Debbie. For people that are listening who don't have
a child that's in a special education program or a
special Olympics program, and who are just going through everyday
life at school, those are the ones that I think

(02:02:25):
benefit almost more from unified sports because I see it
with these kids that are going out there and working
with teammates and they're getting almost as much, if not more,
out of it. And that's not to say it's not
a huge benefit for Frankie and his friends, but for
all of them to work as the same team together.
That to me, people that are listening right now that

(02:02:48):
think that it isn't for their student at school, it
is for every student in school, and I think it's
an awesome, awesome program.

Speaker 8 (02:02:56):
We have gone past the error where the special education
kids and that part of your school are hidden.

Speaker 6 (02:03:04):
Away down a hallway where nobody goes.

Speaker 8 (02:03:06):
They You only see him at lunch, maybe you might
see him at pe.

Speaker 6 (02:03:10):
That's not where we are now in.

Speaker 8 (02:03:11):
Public school education or any education.

Speaker 6 (02:03:14):
Quite honestly, my son is working, living independently with support.

Speaker 8 (02:03:19):
He has down syndrome, and he is functioning really well.
As a member of society, You're going to see people
with special.

Speaker 6 (02:03:25):
Needs everywhere you go, in every walk of life now, and.

Speaker 8 (02:03:29):
If you might as you might as well learn now
to get along and figure out a way that you
can become friends and get involved. It's fun. It's I'm
going to tell you something my mother told me a
long time ago, Jake, and I use this as one of.

Speaker 6 (02:03:40):
My attitudes when I'm.

Speaker 8 (02:03:42):
Thinking about all the opportunities I have to share this message.
That is, I don't have Frankie in my life because
I did something wrong. I have, Frankie, because I did
something right somewhere. And if you think about getting involved
with somebody at your school, there's nothing wrong with them.
There's something right about them, and if you get involved
with them, you're going to find out what that right

(02:04:03):
is and you're going to enjoy it and it's going
to be pure joy and it's going to give you
ten times more than the time that you're going to spend.

Speaker 2 (02:04:10):
Debbie, I love it.

Speaker 1 (02:04:11):
And you know I always enjoy seeing those stories and
you know, seeing the smiles, and like I said, all
those kids on both sides in unified sports are starting
out one to oh before the season even begins, but
Fever want to start out one to oh in the postseason.
We shall see who it is that they're playing when
everything gets underway. And certainly look forward to talking to
you again, Debbie. I know it's been a busy time
for I appreciate the time today.

Speaker 8 (02:04:33):
You're the best, Jake, Thanks so much. Let's go Fever.

Speaker 1 (02:04:35):
There you go, Debbie Anzanelli joining us on the program.
Jamb will be in next. We will do the crossover
brought to you by the good Guys that love Heating
an Air three one seven three five three, twenty one
forty one love dash hvac dot com.

Speaker 2 (02:04:50):
And so do we call it the crossover? Do we
call it the handoff?

Speaker 3 (02:04:53):
Do we call it the cross?

Speaker 8 (02:04:53):
Talk?

Speaker 2 (02:04:54):
What do we call it?

Speaker 1 (02:04:54):
The crossover?

Speaker 3 (02:04:55):
Is unoriginal? Would she not?

Speaker 8 (02:04:58):
Kind of?

Speaker 1 (02:04:58):
Yeah, But I was thinking about this though. It's perfect
this time of year that that love heating and air
is involved with the the crossover from me to you
or the handle up or whatever might be, because we're
at that time of year where the weather is kind
of crossing over and as a result, you want to
make sure that your furnace is up to speed, get
it ready for and then you're running the air conditioning

(02:05:18):
and the and later in the day, and love heating
and air takes care of you in both areas, right,
making sure that you are good in both areas.

Speaker 2 (02:05:25):
J and B.

Speaker 9 (02:05:26):
How they crawl back back when I was in college,
they called it passing puff that was or puffing pass.
I guess you wouldn't pass it, And then.

Speaker 2 (02:05:39):
Maybe that's what were you doing.

Speaker 3 (02:05:41):
Maybe that's why that never worked.

Speaker 1 (02:05:42):
Maybe that should be sponsored by When you say, when
you hear a crossover, who do you think of?

Speaker 9 (02:05:46):
I think of Tim Hardaway, Tim Hardaway, Yeah, I mean
hard Away one iverson two way up there.

Speaker 2 (02:05:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:05:53):
My crossover sucks. I hate my crossover. It gets That's
why I don't do it.

Speaker 2 (02:05:59):
I have to.

Speaker 9 (02:05:59):
I have to Mark Jackson and put my ass into
people there you go back it down. I have to
back people down.

Speaker 2 (02:06:05):
What's on the big program today?

Speaker 3 (02:06:06):
We are going to talk a lot of colts.

Speaker 9 (02:06:09):
I think Jeff rab John's was supposed to join yesterday,
so we did have not Jeff rab John's call in
for about five minutes of entertainment, but I think Jeff
is back.

Speaker 3 (02:06:20):
We're going to Indiana State. Have you heard from Indiana
State yet? Where's Kurt Mallory? I gotta get Kurt Mallory
on the show.

Speaker 1 (02:06:26):
We had Jonathan Edwards of the Colts on and he
spoke very highly of God. Yeah, Kurt Mallory is a
great guy too.

Speaker 9 (02:06:33):
It takes a great guy to assume that position, because
that's one of the more difficult jobs anywhere. I would
agree with that, especially with the lack of money they
have across the board in Tara hate a lot of challenges.
My seventy five cents per year clearly is not helping anything.

Speaker 3 (02:06:51):
Out.

Speaker 2 (02:06:51):
Is that what you donate? Yeah, that's cool.

Speaker 3 (02:06:53):
Well I do. I do a lot of promotion for them.
I'm not talking about him.

Speaker 9 (02:06:58):
I doubt anybody else is going to be talking about them,
so we try to promote him a lot. Crazy Fair
have a great time over there, though, Jake, I did
uh well clearly, I mean based on the mantra of
your crossovers. All right, John's up next, Coles talk Jeff
rap John's as well. We will be back with you
at noon tomorrow, and I appreciate you listening to Querying Company.

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